Multiple congressional Republicans have called for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, some introducing articles of impeachment against and calling for defunding his salary.
But GOP lawmakers haven’t actually launched impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, and Rep. Mark Green says there is a reason.
Impeachment must be done “in a methodical way that educates the American people along the way,” Green, R-Tenn., said Wednesday during an event at The Heritage Foundation. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)
“All we got to do is educate the American people, have this furor arise, and maybe, just maybe, they will do the right thing and hold Mr. Mayorkas and Mr. Biden accountable for this open border,” the Tennessee Republican said of fellow House members.
Green pledged that the House Homeland Security Committee, which he chairs, will hold Mayorkas accountable and is currently doing so through a five-prong investigation.
In June, Green announced an investigation into Mayorkas’ handling of the surge of illegal immigrants at the southern border, saying the probe is part of his committee’s “congressional oversight duties” and pledging to leave “no stone unturned in its efforts to get the facts.”
The panel’s investigation, he said, includes examining:
—Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty.
—How the border crisis facilitates the illegal activities of drug cartels.
—The human cost of the border crisis.
—The financial cost of the crisis.
—Suspected fraud within the Department of Homeland Security.
Green said he hopes the investigation will allow fellow members of Congress to recognize that Mayorkas’ is incompetent, that the border crisis is intentional, and that Biden’s homeland security secretary has disregarded the rule of law.
The second phase of Green’s investigation began only hours before the Tennessee congressman delivered his remarks at Heritage’s Capitol Hill headquarters.
The Homeland Security subcommittee on border security and enforcement held a hearing earlier Wednesday afternoon to begin looking into the ways Mayorkas’ handling of the border has helped the cartels, specifically trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl.
“Mexican cartels have taken over fentanyl production,” Steven Cagen, assistant director of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division on countering transnational organized crime, told lawmakers during the hearing.
To help secure America’s border, Green has called on Congress to pass the Secure the Border Act. In May, the Republican-led House passed the bill, which mandates renewed construction of the border wall and allocates more resources to prevent illegal immigration.
In the largely party-line vote, two Republicans opposed the bill and no Democrats supported it, indicating that it likely would be defeated in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
“We have to encourage the Senate to do the right thing and pass this bill,” Green said. “And we also have to hold this department accountable, this administration accountable.”
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