House Republicans moving swiftly to start Mayorkas impeachment on Jan. 10

House Republicans are preparing to begin the process of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in the coming weeks, building on a monthslong effort by GOP lawmakers to remove the top border official as the illegal immigration crisis enters its fourth year.

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold its first impeachment hearing on Jan. 10, a committee spokesperson confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. The hearing will examine findings from the committee’s nearly yearlong investigation into the Cabinet official’s handling of the southern border and lay the groundwork for a vote in the coming weeks.

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“The Committee will ensure that the public is aware of the scope of Secretary Mayorkas’ egregious misconduct and refusal to enforce the law, but that also that this process is completed promptly and accountability is achieved swiftly — as the American people have demanded,” a committee spokesperson told the Washington Examiner in a statement.

The House’s sudden movement toward impeachment comes as a large group of more than 60 House Republicans are set to visit the Texas border on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will lead the trip alongside Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) as part of the GOP’s effort to educate members on the impact of unchecked illegal immigration on small and large communities at the border and across the country. Lawmakers are expected to lay blame for the burgeoning situation at President Joe Biden’s and Mayorkas’s feet.

Since Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate in January 2021, more immigrants have been encountered attempting to enter the United States from Mexico without authorization than at any other time in history. Under the Biden administration’s first three years, more than 6.7 million people have been encountered at the southern border.

Several House conservatives have called for Mayorkas’s removal for months, even drafting their own articles of impeachment to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has twice introduced articles against Mayorkas. However, those efforts have failed to garner much momentum in the House as some Republicans have been hesitant to charge the Biden administration official.

Greene forced a vote on her articles of impeachment in November and said she wanted to put lawmakers “on the record” regarding his job performance. That vote failed after eight Republicans joined all Democrats and referred the matter to the House Homeland Security Committee.

Greene vowed to attempt impeachment a third time but walked back the threat after Johnson and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) “guaranteed” the House would impeach Mayorkas in January.

“I’m proud to have led the charge to IMPEACH Secretary Mayorkas for months in the House of Representatives,” Greene said in a statement. “Unfortunately, some Republicans joined every single Democrat to block the resolution and save Mayorkas’s job.”

Shortly after Republicans won control of the House in November 2022, then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called on Mayorkas to resign. If he refused, the GOP leader threatened to investigate Mayorkas for his failure at the border and, if need be, open an impeachment inquiry.

Those long-threatened impeachment efforts died off by last spring as the party pivoted to legislating and the House Homeland Security Committee began a multimonth investigation into various aspects of the border crisis and Mayorkas’s role in managing them. That investigation concluded in late 2023.

By September 2023, the desire to impeach Mayorkas is being overshadowed by a more pressing desire to impeach Biden.

The DHS has pushed back against Republican efforts to impeach Mayorkas and previously denounced the move as a “baseless political exercise” that has already “failed on a bipartisan vote.”

“There is no valid basis to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, as senior members of the House majority have attested, and this extreme impeachment push is a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement. “Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe.”

Mayorkas told MSNBC in a televised interview Wednesday morning that he has been focused on working with senators to reach an agreement on the Ukraine/Israel supplemental funding package and will “most certainly” cooperate with the House’s investigation.

“I was on the Hill yesterday to provide technical advice in those ongoing negotiations. Before I headed to the Hill, I was in the office working on solutions. After my visit to the Hill, I was back in my office working on solutions,” Mayorkas said. “That’s what we do in the Department of Homeland Security. That’s what this administration is focused on, solutions to problems.”

It’s not yet clear when impeachment articles may be brought to the floor for a vote, but two sources told the Washington Examiner it’s likely to happen in the coming weeks. It’s also not guaranteed that the impeachment push will be successful this time around, especially because Republicans’ slim majority continues to narrow with the exit of Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH) later this month. However, top House aides said the push has support from GOP leadership.

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The push for a second impeachment comes as House Republicans have authorized an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden to investigate allegations of foreign influence peddling along with son Hunter Biden, who has been indicted on gun and tax fraud allegations.

The impeachment process could also be further complicated because House leaders must focus on advancing annual spending bills before their first deadline on Jan. 19, after which the government will enter a partial shutdown if an agreement is not reached.