The U.S. House is set to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border security concerns, marking a rare and highly divisive attack on a Cabinet official. This move has drawn criticism from constitutional scholars and Democrats who argue that the charges brought against Mayorkas are baseless and do not warrant impeachment.
According to Republicans in the House, Mayorkas has 'refused to comply' with immigration laws, resulting in a record surge of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. They claim that he has breached the public trust through his actions and comments. The House vote on the impeachment charges is scheduled for Tuesday.
Not since 1876 has a Cabinet secretary faced impeachment charges, making this an extraordinary event. The last time a sitting secretary faced impeachment was 148 years ago when Secretary of War William Belknap resigned before the vote.
Representative Mark Green, the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, accused Mayorkas of selectively enforcing laws. This impeachment move comes at a time when border security is becoming a significant issue in the 2024 election, with Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, using it as a potent line of attack against President Joe Biden.
Large numbers of people have been arriving at the southern border, many seeking asylum from countries around the world. Mayorkas has called it an era of global migration. As a result, many migrants are claiming asylum and being conditionally released into the United States. However, cities are ill-equipped to provide housing and other aid while they await lengthy judicial proceedings to determine their fate.
House Democrats are expected to rally against the two articles of impeachment, criticizing the proceedings as a sham and arguing that the charges do not meet the constitutional threshold of treason, bribery, or 'high crimes and misdemeanors.'
The impeachment of Mayorkas gained traction after Republican efforts to impeach President Biden over his son Hunter Biden's business dealings lost momentum. The investigation into the Biden family's affairs has been slow, pushing attention towards Mayorkas instead. The Committee on Homeland Security, led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, pushed for Mayorkas' impeachment swiftly after holding hearings on the matter.
Mayorkas, a former federal prosecutor, did not testify on his own behalf but submitted a rare letter to the panel defending his work.
The timing of the impeachment vote is peculiar since Mayorkas has been actively negotiating a bipartisan border security package in the Senate. He has received praise from a group of senators involved in the effort. The legislation, an ambitious immigration overhaul, is heading for a test vote on Wednesday, despite some Republicans opposing it. House Speaker Mike Johnson has already declared it 'dead on arrival.'
It remains uncertain whether Johnson, with a narrow House majority, has enough support from Republicans to successfully impeach Mayorkas. Some Republicans have not yet committed to voting in favor of impeachment. Even if Mayorkas is impeached by the House, a conviction in the Senate seems unlikely, as Republican senators have shown little interest in the effort. The Senate might choose to refer the matter to a committee for further investigation, delaying any immediate action.
Impeachment, once a rare occurrence in the United States, has increasingly become both a constitutional check on the executive and a political weapon. House Republicans have prioritized impeachments, censures, and other rebukes of officials and lawmakers in this session of Congress, setting a concerning precedent for punishing perceived transgressions.
Experts argue that Mayorkas has become entangled in a policy dispute with Republicans who disapprove of the Biden administration's approach to the border situation. Constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley emphasized that impeachment should not be used for merely being a 'bad Cabinet member.'
The impeachment of Mayorkas has stirred debate among legal scholars and experts. The testimony of Deborah Pearlstein, director of the Princeton Program on Law and Public Policy, pointed out that this impeachment went against the original intent of impeachment as enshrined in the Constitution.
It is worth noting that former President Donald Trump was impeached twice during his presidency. One impeachment stemmed from allegations of corruption related to his phone call with the Ukrainian president, while the other was based on charges of inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Trump was acquitted in both Senate trials.
In the case of Secretary Belknap, who faced impeachment over a kickback scheme in government contracts, he was ultimately acquitted in the Senate trial.
