Twenty Republicans on Tuesday demanded that the House move to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the next Congress, another sign that border issues will play a major part of the Republican oversight agenda next year.
The lawmakers, led by GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, accused Mayorkas of not taking seriously the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Secretary Mayorkas has released more than 1 million illegal aliens into the country,” said Biggs. “Most of these released illegal aliens will never be heard from again.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., accused Mayorkas of misleading Congress by testifying under oath that the U.S. southern border was operationally under control.
“He regularly lies to the American people, claiming that the southern border is closed,” Boebert said. “I’ve been there. It’s wide open.”
Despite these renewed calls to remove Mayorkas, the effort to impeach him faces long odds.
To impeach a federal official, the House must first pass a resolution presenting its case for whatever crime or misconduct was committed that requires removal from office, which can pass with a simple majority vote. After the House vote, the Senate sits in trial and the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides.
The Senate then votes whether to convict or acquit the individual. Two-thirds of the Senate, 67 votes if all are present, is needed to convict. Democrats will hold 51 seats in the Senate next year, making it impossible to convict Mayorkas or anyone else without help from 18 Democrats.
Nonetheless, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are already planning an in-depth investigation into the border crisis, which some hardliners hope will be the first step toward impeachment.
“House Judiciary Republicans have summoned Mayorkas for border investigation,” said Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas. “Nothing short of an impeachment and removal proceedings should be the outcome.”
But even winning a simple majority in the House could be difficult. Republicans at most will control 226 seats and most likely will control just a few more votes than the minimum 218 needed to hold the majority. That means nearly every Republican will need to be on board with impeachment for the effort to succeed.
That looks to be a difficult prospect given the feelings of some moderate and centrist Republicans. One moderate House Republican told Fox News that impeachment might be a step too far, even though there are complaints about Mayorkas’ handling of the border.
“A lot of us were upset at the way that House Democrats politicized the impeachment process during [former] President Donald Trump’s tenure,” said one centrist GOP lawmaker. “No one wants to see a president or Cabinet official impeached simply for holding different views than the party in control of the House.”
Don’t permit Mayors to call for “Homeless Emergency” due to homelessness UNLESS and UNTIL it is tied to ROOT cause = illegal immigration. That is what the Dems are going to do – Call another “Crisis” so their gravy boat is refilled over & over again with taxpayer money but without FIXING the root cause. CA is already called an “Emergency” and now will pay local motels, hotels, apt complexes 4x the rate that those rooms/units were rented for in Oct 2022 ~ and the kickbacks will be plentiful. The Open Border is the root cause of 48 States have situational crisis -don’t permit any Mayor/Governor/Senator to approve a “Crisis” and receive funds.
Nothing like getting excited for some actual accountability for once in this criminal administration – only to hear it probably won’t go anywhere because there are too many democrats.
They’re already “trumping” it up! This has NOTHING to do with party politics numbnuts! This is criminal action against this county and it’s LEGAL citizens! And I agree all that crap with Trump was party politics! It had nothing to do with national security! THIS IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND ON A WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL! This is aTRUE CRMINAL being brought to justice!