On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas passionately refuted the impeachment articles lodged against him, categorizing the accusations as “false” and appealing to Congress to address the U.S. immigration system by means of legislation.
On the day when the House Homeland Security Committee was set to review and forward the articles for a House vote, Mayorkas, who had not previously testified before the committee, addressed the articles in a letter to Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) on Tuesday.
Mark Green ready to oust Mayorkas:
"We cannot allow a Cabinet secretary with no regard for the rule of law to remain in office. That is why today we present this committee with the articles of impeachment against Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas." pic.twitter.com/OlTIaoNYyf
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 30, 2024
In a notable first, Mayorkas wrote a direct response to the chairman concerning the impeachment endeavor. He said in his letter, “I assure you that your false accusations do not rattle me and do not divert me from the law enforcement and broader public service mission to which I have devoted most of my career and to which I remain devoted.”
Mayorkas stated that he had indeed agreed to testify in the impeachment inquiry before the committee, but he received no response from the panel.
He also remarked that our immigration laws were not designed to accommodate the migration patterns of the 21st century while pointing out multiple factors contributing to mass migration. According to him, this migration is often “facilitated by human smuggling organizations that exploit migrants as part of a billion-dollar criminal enterprise.”
The secretary emphasized his opinion that a legislative remedy is essential, and only Congress possesses the authority to deliver it by allocating resources to bolster law enforcement staffing and acquire additional border equipment.
Mayorkas wrote, “Instead, you claim that we have failed to enforce our immigration laws. That is false. We have provided Congress and your committee hours of testimony, thousands of documents, hundreds of briefings, and much more information that demonstrates quite clearly how we are enforcing the law.”
The two impeachment articles level allegations against Mayorkas, accusing him of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and a “breach of public trust.” This initiative arises amidst record-breaking levels of unauthorized immigration.
A vote for Mayorkas’ impeachment could take place before the week’s end. If impeached, he would potentially become the first Cabinet official to face impeachment in nearly 150 years, though it’s improbable that he would be removed from office, given the requirement of a two-thirds vote from the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Hours after Mayorkas sent his letter, Green replied, describing it as “inadequate and unbecoming of a Cabinet secretary.”
