A key House committee will move forward with its impeachment efforts against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with lawmakers set to mark up articles of impeachment against the Biden administration official later this month.
The Homeland Security Committee will meet on Jan. 30 to debate the charges before voting on whether to advance the articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote. It’s not yet clear how quickly those articles would be brought to the floor for consideration, but it’s likely lawmakers will push for a vote as early as next month.
“This Committee has conducted extensive oversight and passed historic legislation to secure the border,” Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) said in a statement. “However, the final remedy for dealing directly with Secretary Mayorkas’ willful and systemic disregard for the rule of law is impeachment. After three years of this crisis and a year of investigations and proceedings, we must move forward with accountability.”
The decision to move forward with impeachment comes after a yearlong investigation headed by Republicans into Mayorkas and his handling of the southern border. Democrats have decried those efforts, accusing their GOP counterparts of using impeachment as a political attack based on policy differences.
The announcement to advance an impeachment resolution comes one week after Republicans held their final hearing on Thursday featuring testimony from “victims” of the surge in illegal immigration. Mayorkas was initially expected to testify during that hearing but later declined, citing scheduling conflicts.
His absence stirred tension among Republicans and the Department of Homeland Security after Green accused the secretary of refusing to appear before the panel, claiming Mayorkas has skirted requests since late last summer. DHS officials pushed back on those accusations, alleging the committee has failed “to find a mutually agreeable date.”
Democrats on the committee sought to buy more time for the inquiry, with ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) requesting an additional hearing that features witnesses chosen by the minority party. Green pushed back on that request, arguing that House rules only mandate the majority party to allow minority witnesses rather than an entire hearing dedicated to their defense.
House conservatives have pushed for months to remove Mayorkas from his top position in the Department of Homeland Security, with a handful of members even introducing their own articles of impeachment last year. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been one of the most outspoken proponents of impeachment, even going so far as to force her colleagues to vote on his removal late last year.
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The effort later failed on the floor due to insufficient Republican support, but Greene vowed to continue introducing the impeachment articles until action is taken. She later backed off those efforts after receiving guarantees from House leaders that they would move forward with impeachment proceedings.
The latest development comes as border security is a driving issue for voters heading into the 2024 election, with immigration being the top concern for GOP primary voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to exit polls.