Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas could be the first White House cabinet official to be impeached since 1876.
President Joe Biden’s secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could be the first White House cabinet official to be impeached since 1876.
On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee passed two articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the administration’s disastrous open border. Lawmakers spent the day making their case either for or against impeachment proceedings as the committee moved forward over the 12-hour markup hearing.
“Secretary Mayorkas is the very type of public official the framers feared,” said GOP Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee. “Someone who would cast aside the laws passed by a co-equal branch of government, replacing those with his own preferences — hurting his fellow Americans in the process.”
Committee members advanced the articles with a late-night vote of 18 to 15 on Tuesday. The articles, for “Willful and Systemic Refusal to Comply With the Law” and “Breach of the Public Trust,” will now move to a full chamber vote that will determine whether the Senate will convene a trial. Removal from office requires two-thirds of the Senate rendering a guilty verdict, which is unlikely given that the upper chamber is dominated by Democrats.
