Marjorie Taylor Greene Moves To Impeach Mayorkas, With House Vote Expected Next Week
The secretary has come under fire from congressional Republicans for months now.
![AP/Jose Luis Magana](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwp.nysun.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F07%2Fmayorkas-testimony.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed articles of impeachment against the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas, for engaging in what she calls “a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with the law.” The articles, which Ms. Greene filed as privileged, must receive a vote on the House floor within two legislative days, meaning the floor vote could come as early as Monday.
“I just filed privileged Articles of Impeachment on Secretary Mayorkas,” Ms. Greene wrote on X immediately after she unexpectedly filed the articles. “Yesterday, two Americans from my district in Dalton, GA were killed in a high-speed head-on collision at the hands of human traffickers smuggling illegal aliens into this country. They had five kids who will never get to say goodbye.”
On Wednesday, Jose and Isabel Lerma — Ms. Greene’s constituents — were killed in a crash when a human trafficker from Houston was smuggling five Honduran migrants into the country. The driver was fleeing from sheriff’s deputies, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“The utter disregard for American life displayed by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas can no longer be ignored,” Ms. Greene said. “The time for more hearings and phases is over. Americans are getting murdered just traveling to see their families. Lives have been lost forever. Everyone should care. This is not a political issue.”
A moderate GOP member who represents more than 800 miles of the southern border in the House, Congressman Tony Gonzales, told reporters that he worked with Ms. Greene to draft the articles of impeachment. The Lermas were killed in Mr. Gonzales’s district on Wednesday. He wrote on X shortly after their deaths: “Enough is enough — no more excuses. We can prevent this.”
A spokesman for DHS responded to the articles of impeachment on Thursday afternoon. “While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe,” the statement said. “Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix.”
Ms. Greene told the Sun on Wednesday that her frustrations with the crossings at the southern border have grown so intense that she wants to shut down the government until Mr. Mayorkas takes a harder line on border crossings.
“I’m not voting” to keep the government open, Ms. Greene said, noting that she voted against the last government funding extension on September 30. “I’m all for forcing a shutdown until the Biden administration actually decides to secure our border.”
The government will shut down on November 17 if a deal is not reached.
Mr. Mayorkas has come under intense fire from congressional Republicans in recent months, especially since the lapse of Title 42 — the pandemic-era border enforcement rule from the Trump administration — and recent surges in border crossings.
In July, Mr. Mayorkas sat before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about a spike in border crossings by migrants from Central America, which, understandably, did not go well for the secretary. “The Biden administration’s policies have led to more national security threats,” Congressman Jim Jordan said at the beginning of the hearing. “The Biden administration policies make it less likely — less likely — that enforcement actions will be taken against criminal aliens.”
“I know that today Secretary Mayorkas is going to try to paint a rosy picture of this disastrous mismanagement of our border,” he continued. “But the numbers don’t lie … this administration has abandoned any semblance of border security and immigration enforcement.”