Republicans have wasted no time since taking control of the House of Representatives. They followed through with a long-standing threat to file articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden’s cabinet.
Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, accused Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors” in his mishandling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Since November, Republicans have called on Mayorkas to resign over his role in the spiraling border crisis.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had warned at the time that the Republican majority would use “the power of the purse and the power of the subpoena” to hold President Joe Biden’s administration accountable for border security.
“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure to determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said at a press conference in El Paso, Texas.
“This investigation could lead to an impeachment inquiry,” he said.
They followed through with the threat on Monday.
“It is unfortunate that we have gotten to this point, but it is necessary,” Fallon said in a statement. “Secretary Mayorkas’s potential impeachment is not an accident. He has willfully abdicated his duties as Secretary of Homeland Security and actively misled Congress and the American people. To make any progress at our southern border, he must go.”
A spokesman for Mayorkas responded by saying lawmakers “can do better than point the finger at someone else. They should come to the table and work on solutions for our broken system and outdated laws, which they have not updated in over 40 years.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., filed articles of impeachment for Mayorkas back in August 2021, but the effort was squashed by that year’s Democrat-controlled House.
Responding to the Biden administration’s failures to secure the border, House Republicans have put security among their top priorities — and Mayorkas was listed as a target of potential investigations and impeachment for months.
The Horn editorial team