It seems that even MAGA Republicans are not content with just trying to impeach President Biden without a single shred of evidence of wrongdoing, because they’ve decided to desperately pursue a baseless impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as well. House Republicans have held months of hearings and investigations but have not been able to find a single shred of wrongdoing by Secretary Mayorkas, including anything at all that rises to the threshold of a high crime or misdemeanor. Despite this, House Republicans have released articles of impeachment against him and are planning a markup hearing tomorrow, with a vote on the House floor as soon as they can. This baseless impeachment comes while bipartisan negotiations are underway in the Senate to find actual solutions to fix our broken and outdated immigration system – despite Donald Trump demanding Republicans walk away from negotiations in order to continue campaigning on the crisis at the border. House Republicans have made clear they would rather use the border as a political campaign issue rather than doing anything to fix it.
Washington Post: House GOP unveils Mayorkas impeachment articles despite lack of evidence. “The charges come as Republicans swiftly concluded two public impeachment hearings this month without Mayorkas’s in-person testimony or testimony from any fact witnesses. Although the Biden administration has been struggling with the overwhelming surge of migrants at the southern border, congressional lawmakers have yet to detail clear evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors on the part of leaders. […] Constitutional experts and Democrats have argued that Republicans are abusing a tool adopted by the framers of the Constitution to protect the country from despotic leadership to instead address a policy dispute. Two law professors who testified before the committee this month both stated that they did not see a constitutional basis for impeachment.” [Washington Post, 1/28/24]
New York Times: House Republicans Release Impeachment Charges Against Mayorkas. “Leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee laid out their case against Mr. Mayorkas ahead of a Tuesday meeting to approve the charges, paving the way for a quick House vote as soon as early next month to impeach him. It would be the culmination of Republicans’ attacks on Mr. Biden’s immigration policies and an extraordinary move given an emerging consensus among legal scholars that Mr. Mayorkas’s actions do not constitute high crimes and misdemeanors. […] The Biden administration and Democrats have defended Mr. Mayorkas as having acted legally and truthfully, arguing that he complied with the G.O.P.’s investigations fully even before they opened an impeachment inquiry. They have also slammed the impeachment as a political exercise, accusing Republicans of scapegoating Mr. Mayorkas as a favor to the hard right instead of working with them on bipartisan solutions to mitigate what leaders in both parties consider a border crisis.” [New York Times, 1/28/24]
Axios: House Republicans release articles of impeachment against Mayorkas “Democrats and legal experts have criticized the effort, saying Republicans have failed to show that Mayorkas has committed any high crimes and misdemeanors — the constitutional standard for impeachment. […] Republicans have made clear they want to campaign on the problems at the border, and have been reluctant to give Biden any legislative wins to address the crisis.” [Axios, 1/28/24]
Bloomberg: GOP Lays Out Final Case to Impeach Homeland Secretary Mayorkas. “Republicans have angled to impeach President Joe Biden or someone in his Cabinet prior to assuming control of the House a year ago. Mayorkas, whom they blame for record-high migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border, emerged as the most straightforward target in recent months. He would be the first Cabinet secretary impeached in almost 150 years. The Department of Homeland Security and the Biden administration’s allies say Republicans are using impeachment as a political tool to provide campaign fodder for the 2024 election season, in which border security is a leading issue.” [Bloomberg, 1/28/24]
The Hill: House GOP unveils Mayorkas impeachment articles. “House Republicans unveiled their articles of impeachment to remove Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, formally kicking off a controversial process as Democrats and experts argue he has not committed any high crimes or misdemeanors to justify booting him from his post. […] Democrats, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and even some conservatives see its significance as a GOP abuse of congressional power that caves to demands from its most far-right members, with Republicans seeking to impeach Mayorkas over policy differences that fall well short of the constitutional standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.” [The Hill, 1/28/24]
Associated Press: House GOP releases impeachment articles in bid to oust Homeland Security’s Mayorkas over the border. “The rare step against a Cabinet member drew outrage from Democrats and the agency as a politically motivated stunt lacking the constitutional basis to remove Mayorkas from office. […] Only once in American history has a Cabinet secretary been impeached: William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant’s war secretary, in 1876, over kickbacks in government contracts. Going after an official for a policy dispute, in this instance over the claim that Mayorkas is not upholding immigration laws, is unprecedented.” [Associated Press, 1/28/24]
Politico: House Republicans unveil Mayorkas impeachment articles. “The drive to impeach Mayorkas has drawn criticism from Democrats and legal experts, plus skepticism from some of their own GOP colleagues, who believe they haven’t shown that Mayorkas committed a high crime or misdemeanor. ‘What is glaringly missing from these articles is any real charge or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors — the Constitutional standard for impeachment,’ Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the top Democrat on the panel, said in a statement after Republicans released their impeachment articles on Sunday. The Department of Homeland Security, in a four-page memo responding to the articles, called Tuesday’s committee vote ‘just more of the same political games’ from Republicans on the committee.” [Politico, 1/28/24]
CNN: House Republicans release articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas. “The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, pushed back against the unveiled articles and accused the House GOP of ‘abusing’ its impeachment power. ‘What is glaringly missing from these articles is any real charge or even a shred of evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors – the Constitutional standard for impeachment. That should come as no surprise because Republicans’ so-called ‘investigation’ of Secretary Mayorkas has been a remarkably fact-free affair,’ Thompson said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security similarly blasted House Republicans over the articles, calling the upcoming committee vote a ‘farce’ and a ‘distraction from other vital national security priorities.’ The agency has been plotting its response to impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas, who early on emerged as a top target of Republicans over the Biden administration’s border policies. In a newly released memo, the Department of Homeland Security slammed the impeachment inquiry, arguing that there are no high crimes or misdemeanors and that the probe was ‘predetermined from the start.’ The memo described the process as ‘cynical and hypocritical.’” [CNN, 1/28/24]