House committee votes to impeach Biden DHS Sec Mayorkas

The party line vote triggers a floor vote in the House as early as next week to impeach Biden’s controversial official.

The impeachment articles accuse Mayorkas of having "repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security" and of having "made false statements to Congress" that the border is secure and closed and that DHS is in operational control of the border.

The vote followed a long hearing during which Republicans made their case for the removal of the embattled official, noting record high border crossings of illegal immigrants and mass releases of illegal immigrants into the US interior.

The GOP members also accused Mayorkas of violating immigration law.

Chairman Mark Green said, "Today is a grave day. We have not approached this day or this process lightly. Secretary Mayorkas’ actions have forced our hand. We cannot allow this border crisis to continue."

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said, "My colleagues across the aisle seem to say that it's acceptable that we've had 10 million illegal crossings in three years and we've had pushing 300,000 Americans dead from opioid overdose. We're losing our country down there. And the man responsible for executing that policy is Alejandro Mayorkas."

Earlier in the day, Mayorkas released a letter defending his record and belittling the proceedings. He wrote, "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.”

He claimed that record-breaking border crossings were due to "…problems with our broken and outdated immigration system are not new," calling the allegations against him “…baseless and inaccurate."

In March 2021, he told would-be illegal immigrants "We are not saying don't come, we are saying don't come now, because we will be able to deliver safe and orderly process to them as quickly as possible." Mayorkas said that would-be immigrations should wait "with a goal in mind."

While claiming to Americans that the border was closed, he told the world "Give us time to build an other safe way to arrive in the United States and make the claims that the law permits you to make."

If the House votes to impeach Mayorkas the case will go to the Senate for trial.