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Calls to Impeach Secretary Mayorkas Pile Up

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 13, 2022 4:00 PM

As Julio covered on Wednesday, email documents revealed by Fox News's Bill Melugin show that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas knew that the slandered Border Patrol agents did not actually whip illegal immigrants. Mayorkas still failed to defend them, though. Calls to impeach the secretary, with impeachment articles having been first filed by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in August of last year, have ramped up.

Biggs continued his calls over Twitter on Wednesday. 

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has also called for impeaching Mayorkas and circulated a letter and memo in March that made a formal request for fellow Republicans to join him.

"Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas must be impeached; he should have been impeached long before this for a host of reasons. I laid out the case for impeachment last spring, and this latest revelation demonstrates a total disregard for his duty and those he is entrusted to lead," Rep. Roy told Townhall in a statement about these recent revelations. 

Even before such revelations came to light on Wednesday, there has been chatter about articles of impeachment, especially if Republicans indeed take control of the House, as they are forecast to do. The focus had been on impeaching President Joe Biden, but such articles have also been filed against Secretary Mayorkas, as mentioned, as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Attorney General Merrick Garland. 

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been particularly vocal in favor of impeachment, including when it comes to Mayorkas. She too tweeted throughout Wednesday and Thursday, which included retweeting Rep. Biggs. 

Rep. Greene's name has been referenced in pieces mentioning impeachment, and she herself has filed and co-sponsored articles of impeachment against various Biden cabinet members. 

Discussion about impeachment articles against Mayorkas, in particular, was just recently raised by CNN last week. An October 6 report from Melanie Zanona and Manu Raju noted in their headline how it was "posing a test for McCarthy," referring to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who is likely to be the next Speaker of the House. 

The focus of the report, which came out even before these recent revelations against Mayorkas, is that Mayorkas should be the priority for impeachment:

But more than a dozen of former President Donald Trump’s top congressional allies – and several Republicans close to the leadership – told CNN that the focus instead should be on targeting Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and that a new GOP majority should hold impeachment proceedings over the problems at the border. Senior GOP sources close to leadership say it’s a matter of when – not if – House Republicans initiate an impeachment inquiry and that Mayorkas has become their No. 1 target, with their base itching for revenge after Trump’s two impeachments.

...

“Mayorkas deserves (impeachment) for sure, because we no longer have a border,” said Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a McCarthy ally who is in line to chair the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which oversees impeachment proceedings. 

But while Jordan personally supports the idea, he believes it will be “a conference decision,” saying, “I think we’ll all sit down. Kevin is open to sitting down and figuring out what we do.”

...

So far, McCarthy has carefully sidestepped impeachment questions, insisting Republicans are not going to pre-determine the outcome but are willing to go wherever the facts and the law lead them. 

Yet McCarthy has not shut the door on the idea either, particularly when it comes to Mayorkas. And when pressed by CNN on whether Mayorkas is vulnerable to impeachment in a GOP-led House, he replied: “What happens at the border is above everything else.”

...

Some lawmakers think McCarthy may be more amenable to impeaching Mayorkas than Biden, describing it as a release valve for the inevitable pressure from his right. Going after Mayorkas, even if it’s a fruitless endeavor that would almost certainly fail in the Senate, would also force more attention on immigration and the border, two issues that rile up the GOP base and that Republicans are eager to keep in the spotlight.

While the report mentioned that "McCarthy has carefully sidestepped impeachment questions," it's worth pointing out that on May 1, while taking questions from reporters, he did mention impeachment. McCarthy was discussing the visits Republican House members take to the border, something members of the Biden administration have failed to do, including the supposed border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The Republican leader also discussed what his party members can do while they're still in the minority. McCarthy also indicated House Republicans had sent a letter to Mayorkas about the state of the border and what his plan is. 

On impeachment, McCarthy said, "At any time, if someone is derelict in their job, there is always the option of impeaching somebody." 

It's looking increasingly likely he'll get his chance, especially if Republicans win back the House.