PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: January 17, 2024
Washington, D.C. – After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas agreed to testify in front of the House Homeland Security Committee as part of their impeachment proceedings, MAGA House Republicans have now backtracked and said they don’t want the Secretary to testify anymore. In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director, Kyle Herrig, issued the following statement:
“MAGA House Republicans have the wrong priorities – the bogus impeachment proceedings of Secretary Mayorkas are pre-planned, pre-determined, and all in an effort to harm President Biden and help disgraced former President Trump return to the White House in 2024. MAGA House Republicans don’t want to hear from their witnesses, they only want to distort the facts shared with the American people and create false narratives. They are more interested in playing politics than addressing an immigration system that has been broken for decades.”
The Hill: GOP backtracks on Mayorkas impeachment appearance, demanding written testimony
By Rebecca Beitsch // January 17, 2024
Key Point: “This is just the latest example of Committee Republicans’ sham process. It’s abundantly clear that they are not interested in hearing from Secretary Mayorkas since it doesn’t fit into their bad-faith, predetermined and unconstitutional rush to impeach him. Last week, the Secretary offered to testify publicly before the Committee; in the time since, the Committee failed to respond to DHS to find a mutually agreeable date,” DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement. “Instead, they provided this offer of written testimony to the media before any outreach to the Department. [Homeland Security Committee] Republicans have yet again demonstrated their preference for playing politics rather than work together to address the serious issues at the border.”
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) demanded written testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, abandoning plans to have the secretary’s public testimony as part of his impeachment proceedings.
The Wednesday letter comes after Mayorkas’s office said he was unable to meet Green’s demand for testimony that came just two weeks ahead of the slated Thursday hearing, noting that the secretary would be hosting a delegation from Mexico to discuss immigration issues.
While Mayorkas’s office asked to find another time, Green’s letter characterized the response as “declin[ing] to appear.”
“Since you continue to decline to come in person, I invite you to submit written testimony for the January 18th hearing record, so that our Committee Members may hear from you directly,” Green wrote in the letter, first reported by Punchbowl News.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the disagreement over setting a date amounted to a “rush to impeach” on Green’s part.
“This is just the latest example of Committee Republicans’ sham process. It’s abundantly clear that they are not interested in hearing from Secretary Mayorkas since it doesn’t fit into their bad-faith, predetermined and unconstitutional rush to impeach him. Last week, the Secretary offered to testify publicly before the Committee; in the time since, the Committee failed to respond to DHS to find a mutually agreeable date,” DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement.
“Instead, they provided this offer of written testimony to the media before any outreach to the Department. [Homeland Security Committee] Republicans have yet again demonstrated their preference for playing politics rather than work together to address the serious issues at the border.”