More and more Republicans in the House of Representatives are supporting the idea of impeaching the DHS secretary. Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the “crisis” at the southern border.
The support from both hardline conservatives and moderate Republicans comes ahead of Republicans' first hearing on the possible removal of the Homeland Security secretary this week.
It's a good sign for Speaker Mike Johnson, who leads the chamber with a narrow three-seat majority, so Republicans will need almost everyone in their conference to successfully impeach Mayorkas.
On Monday, days before Republicans plan to scrutinize his leadership and “inaction” at the border during their confirmation hearing, Mayorkas traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas – which has become the epicenter of the migration crisis in recent days.
After weeks of back and forth between him and Senate negotiators about a possible border security agreement, he heard from border officials on site.
But top Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., called his visit to Texas — which came just days after the same trip by more than 60 Republicans — a “desperate photo op” as the “crisis” rages on.
As Congress returns from the holiday recess, Mayorkas' impeachment effort is gathering steam, along with spending fights, a major immigration and aid deal still in the works and the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.
A growing number of Republicans in the House of Representatives are supporting the idea of impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas ahead of their first hearing on the possible removal of the Homeland Security secretary
Attorneys general from Montana, Oklahoma and Missouri are expected to testify at the House Homeland Security Committee's impeachment hearing on Wednesday, titled “Devastation in the Heartland: How Secretary Mayorkas' Failed Leadership Impacted the States.”
It is the first impeachment hearing after nearly a year of investigations and reports by the House Homeland Security Committee.
If successful, Mayorkas would be the first indicted Cabinet secretary in 150 years.
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, a Republican from a New York district that President Biden won in 2020, told CNN that “we have all been a part” of the border crisis.
“From the far right and the Freedom Caucus to the more moderate people, we were all a part of it,” he said.
Moderate Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., first predicted to last week that some Democrats would support impeaching the secretary.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., claimed on Fox News that Mayorkas warned Republicans seeking to impeach him: “You're not going to like whoever comes next.”
Speaker Johnson's slim majority comes after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy resigned from Congress at the end of 2023 and embattled Rep. George Santos was kicked out.
House Republican Steve Scalise is battling cancer and won't be in DC until next month. So if there is a vote in January, he may not be there.
And the expected Jan. 21 resignation of Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio will cut the GOP majority even further — from 219 Republicans (including Scalise) to 213 Democrats.
Last month, more than 300,000 migrants attempted to enter the U.S. at the southern border – the largest number in a single month since records began.
In the town of Eagle Pass, which has a population of 28,000, around 5,000 migrants tried to cross the border with Mexico for days in December.
Speaker Mike Johnson and a group of 60 House Republicans visited Eagle Pass, where they railed against the Homeland Security secretary and called on President Joe Biden to take unilateral action to close the border.
“Secretary Mayorkas is not a good faith negotiator,” Johnson said on CBS after the trip when asked if he wanted to remove the secretary at the border at a time of “crisis numbers.”
Immigrants from Venezuela walk past a pile of discarded migrant clothing after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 8, 2024
Migrants walk along barbed wire over which President Biden and Gov. Greg Abbott are fighting after crossing the Rio Grande
Migrants pass Texas National Guard soldiers guarding the US border
In November, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., forced a vote to impeach the secretary, but the House voted to refer her articles back to committee.
Instead of the judiciary, the Homeland Security Committee is currently taking the lead in these efforts.
“My job is to get rid of this guy,” Department of Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green told . “I will do that.”
Green called Mayorkas the “biggest national security threat” to the United States
The trips to Eagle Pass come as the battle between the Biden administration and the state of Texas heats up. The White House is asking the Supreme Court to intervene and allow it to tear down the barbed wire that Gov. Greg Abbott installed along the southern border.
Abbott also installed floating barriers in the Rio Grande, which later failed in a legal battle and were removed, and recently signed a new law allowing the state's law enforcement to arrest and immediately deport migrants.