Eight Republicans Join with Democrats to Block Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Resolution to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was blocked by the House on Monday after eight Republicans joined with Democrats to send the resolution to the House Homeland Security Committee.

Summary

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was blocked by the House on Monday after eight Republicans joined with Democrats to send the resolution to the House Homeland Security Committee.

• The House voted 209-201 to refer the measure to the Homeland Security Committee, with eight Republicans joining with Democrats: Reps. Cliff Bentz (R-OR), Ken Buck (R-CO), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Tom McClintock (R-CA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), John Duarte (R-CA), and Mike Turner (R-OH).
• The articles of impeachment allege that Mayorkas has violated his oath of office because he has been derelict in his duty as Secretary of Homeland Security to protect the southern border from an onslaught of migrants and asylum-seekers.
• Mayorkas has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Homeland Security panel since Republicans took control of the House in January.
• Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) is leading a multipart investigation of Mayorkas to prepare articles of impeachment for the House Judiciary Committee, which handles the impeachment process.
• Greene, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, cited a Texas car collision caused by a suspected human smuggler that left eight dead last week to justify her decision to bypass her own committee’s investigation.
• Greene’s resolution would have short-circuited that process and forced an immediate up-or-down vote on whether to impeach Mayorkas without any hearings, committee votes or the ability to build a public case against Mayorkas.

• The Guardian noted the timing of the resolution may have played a role in its failure – Greene introduced her privileged motion just five days before Congress must either pass funding bills or shut down the government.
• CNN observed Democrats made a tactical decision to try and refer the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee instead of seeking to kill the resolution altogether. Their move was calculated to gain Republican support and it paid off.
• The New York Times pointed out that while “Republicans have pushed for months to make Mr. Mayorkas the first cabinet official to be impeached since William W. Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876,” the reality is “any impeachment effort that passes the House is sure to meet with defeat in the Democratic-controlled Senate.”

• The Washington Examiner observed that the Homeland Security Committee “has already been conducting an inquiry into Mayorkas over the last several months, with lawmakers releasing its latest update into the investigation on Monday afternoon, just hours before the vote.”
• Fox News noted that “Under Mayorkas, migrant encounters at the southern border hit an all-time record in September with a massive 260,000 encounters as border officials continue struggling to cope with the large influx.” Just in October, Mayorkas admitted that more than 600,000 migrants were able to slip into the US past law enforcement during FY 2023.
• The New York Post pointed out that Greene’s decision to introduce impeachment as a “privileged motion” was what forced the House to vote on the resolution within two days of its introduction. Her gamble that putting the resolution on the floor would quiet the demand for an impeachment process from other members of the conference proved to be a miscalculation.

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© Dominic Moore, 2023