WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that he intends to hold a floor vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “as soon as possible” for allegedly facilitating record-breaking illegal immigration along the US-Mexico border.
The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a Tuesday markup on articles of impeachment against the 64-year-old Mayorkas — as Republicans blame the border crisis on Biden administration policies.
“When we return next week, by necessity, the House Homeland Security Committee will move forward with Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas. A vote on the floor will be held as soon as possible thereafter,” Johnson (R-La.) wrote to fellow Republicans in a so-called “dear colleague” letter.
Mayorkas would be the second Cabinet secretary in US history to be impeached, after Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 — setting up what would be an acrimonious election-year Senate trial focused on President Biden’s immigration actions.
Johnson issued the advisory as bipartisan Senate negotiations on a supplemental spending package that would include border assistance sputtered.
The House speaker wrote that “the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement” to attach to Biden’s proposed $106 billion bill that would primarily fund military aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway,” Johnson wrote.
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“Since the day I became Speaker, I have assured our Senate colleagues the House would not accept any counterproposal if it would not actually solve the problems that have been created by the administration’s subversive policies.”
Johnson’s letter comes just a day after reporting that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a longtime foe of former President Donald Trump, had accused the formre president of lobbying Senate Republicans to kill any border deal so that Trump could retain a leading anti-Biden campaign plank.
“Since the day I became Speaker, I have assured our Senate colleagues the House would not accept any counterproposal if it would not actually solve the problems that have been created by the administration’s subversive policies.”
The speaker wrote that if Biden is serious about border security, he should take unilateral action to make changes to signal to Republicans that he would implement the provisions of any deal.
“The facts show that President Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas have willfully ignored and actively undermined our nation’s immigration laws,” Johnson wrote.
“My office has documented at least 64 specific actions taken by his administration that effectively opened our border and instituted the current chaos. Rather than accept accountability, President Biden is now trying to blame Congress for what HE himself intentionally created.”
Johnson went on: “Many of our constituents have asked an important questions: ‘What is the point of negotiating new laws with an administration that will not enforce the laws already on the books?’ If President Biden wants us to believe he is serious about protecting our national sovereignty, he needs to demonstrate his good faith by taking immediate actions to secure it. He should sign an order right now to end the mass release of illegals and dangerous persons into our country. If he wants our conference to view him as a good faith negotiator, he can start with the stroke of a pen.”
The number of illegal southern border crossings hit an all-time record of more than 276,000 in December, according to preliminary data reported last month by Fox News.
The vast majority of people who illegally cross are being allowed into the US to await court rulings on their asylum status and are entitled to work permits as their claims pend before a backlogged review system.
Mayorkas, who has repeatedly insisted at congressional hearings that “the border is secure,” said in January that more than 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border were being released into the US — up from 71% in October and 74% in November.