House Republicans are preparing to take a significant step toward impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas early next year.
Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said Friday in a statement that his panel is “initiating impeachment proceedings against Secretary Mayorkas early in the new year.”
The revival of the Mayorkas impeachment effort has flown under the radar in recent weeks as Republicans focused on rallying behind formalizing their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
But Green has long flirted with moving toward impeachment. He told POLITICO last week that his panel was going to circle back to articles of impeachment early next year and added during a recent interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he’ll hold hearings in January as well as a markup. (Committee spokespeople didn’t respond to a question on Friday about timing of the markup.)
Support for impeaching Mayorkas is growing within the House GOP conference, but it’s not clear that they have the votes — at least not yet.
Eight Republicans previously helped Democrats punt on articles of impeachment against the DHS chief. But some of those holdouts made it clear their opposition was based more on procedural reasons and at least one — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) — has flipped.
But there are others within the conference worth watching — namely, Republicans in Biden-won districts. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) is working behind the scenes to try to get moderate members on board.
The impeachment effort comes as Mayorkas plays a central role in the Senate-led talks on a deal that would combine stricter border security policies with new foreign aid. Across the Capitol, some Senate Republicans are critical of Mayorkas but skeptical of impeaching him, arguing that the House GOP criticism comes down more to policy disagreements.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Gonzales and other top Republicans are also expected to take a trip to the border early next month.
Beyond disputing Republicans on the specifics of border policy, the administration and Democrats have accused Green of driving his months-long investigation toward a predetermined outcome of impeachment.
“The House majority is wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars pursuing a baseless political exercise that has been rejected by members of both parties and already failed on a bipartisan vote,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “There is no valid basis to impeach Secretary Mayorkas.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the top Democrat on Green’s panel, sounded a similar note after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she had cut a deal with leadership and the chair to pursue impeachment in the committee. At the time, Thompson accused the committee investigation of being a “shell game” to end up at a “pre-determined, evidence-free impeachment.”
