Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) announced Thursday that he will not support an impeachment measure against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, putting the measure of impeachment at risk of not having enough votes to pass.
The impeachment measure against Mayorkas is being pursued by House Republicans over the secretary’s handling of the southern border. Buck, who previously said that he was undecided on whether he would support impeaching Mayorkas, explained that he would not support such a measure because Mayorkas’s handling of the border is “a policy difference,” not a “high crime.”
“Let me from the outset say there is a crisis on the border, the law needs to be enforced,” Buck said. “But if we start going down this path of impeachment with a cabinet official, we are opening a door, as Republicans, that we don’t want to open. The next president who is a Republican will face the same scrutiny from Democrats. It’s wrong, and we should not set this precedent.”
Buck’s statement comes several months after he announced that he will not seek reelection in the 2024 elections. The Colorado congressman explained that his decision stemmed from House Republicans’ insistence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, along with their “Jan. 6 narrative.”
Buck further explained that he voted against impeaching former President Donald Trump during the Trump presidency, as he did not feel those impeachment movements met the requirements that called for them. He added that Congress should not use impeachment as a tactic to settle policy differences.
“We have other ways of trying to get the Biden Administration to take the border more seriously,” Buck said. “Impeachment just should not be one of them. We open that Pandora’s box, we’re going to be in trouble as a country.”
House Republicans can only lose one more Republican in this impeachment vote due to the party’s razor-thin majority. Currently, there are three other Republican lawmakers, Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA), David Joyce (R-OH), and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), who may not support the move to impeach Mayorkas.
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McClintock has stated that he has not found any evidence of Mayorkas committing high crimes or misdemeanors, while Joyce has said he is “not leaning in either direction” of supporting or not supporting the measure. Newhouse has not said how he intends to vote on the measure.
Early Wednesday morning, House Republicans approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, which charge him with willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and a breach of the public trust. The floor vote for the impeachment movement will likely be sometime next week.