Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs announced he will file articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mayorkas has been accused of failing to secure the nation’s southern border and, in some circumstances, enabling illegal immigration.
“This is not negligence. This is not by accident. And this is not incompetence,” said Biggs at a press conference on Feb. 1 at the House Triangle. Biggs said Mayorkas failed to complete the border wall, ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to deport immigrants, and reinstated a catch-and-release program all to the detriment of border security.
Biggs’ resolution is backed by 15 members of the House of Representatives.
“There has been no accountability for the past two years,” said Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who noted that 750 bodies were found at the southern border in 2022, at the press conference. “This is a humanitarian crisis.”
"Why isn't the Biden administration letting our local governments know who's there and why they are there?" asked Congressman Claudia Tenney of New York. She added that "every state has become a border state" because the federal government flies immigrants who enter the country through the southern border to regional airports, as documented in White Plains, New York.
"Whether we impeach him or he resigns, I really don't care," said Congressman Eli Crane of Arizona. "The American people deserve better."
Brain Babbit of Texas, a co-chair of the Border Security Caucus, said Mayorkas has repeatedly violated his constitutional oath of office.
“He has perjured himself, lying multiple times under oath, and he continues to do everything in his power to exacerbate this deadly border crisis,” said Babbit. “Partisanship plays no role in today’s action. This is all about negligence and upholding the law.”
"Think about the hundreds of families who today will be told that their loved one overdosed and died because of fentanyl poisoning that was smuggled through and across our southern border," said Babbit. "Think of the hundreds of migrants being assaulted, raped and killed on their journey to and across the border."
Biggs previously filed to impeach Mayorkas in August of 2021. At the time, Biggs said the secretary was “willfully refusing to maintain operational control of the border and is encouraging aliens to enter our country illegally” and further claimed DHS was “systematically releasing COVID-19 positive aliens into our communities, subjecting the American people to unnecessary and avoidable risks.”
Prior to taking over as Speaker of the House, California Congressman Kevin McCarthy publicly warned Mayorkas that he would need to resign or else he would face impeachment during the 118th Congress.
“His actions have produced the greatest wave of illegal immigration in recorded history,” McCarthy said during a press conference in El Paso, Texas in November.
Mayorkas received similar warnings from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Biggs is the second member of the House of Representatives to file impeachment articles against Mayorkas this year.
Texas Congressman Pat Fallon introduced a resolution to impeach Mayorkas on Jan. 9, stating the DHS secretary had violated his oath of office and is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Fallon said that Mayorkas had violated both Article II of the US Constitution as well as the Secure the Fence Act of 2006 which requires the DHS Secretary to “maintain operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States.”
“There have now been 20 straight months with over 150,000 illegal border crossings. Secretary Mayorkas has presided over a 180-percent increase in encounters at the southern border compared to the previous administration,” Fallon said. “Under Secretary Mayorkas, more fentanyl has crossed the border in the last 2 months than in all of fiscal year 2019 under President Trump’s leadership.”
Fallon’s resolution has not been voted on by the House.
“Quite frankly I hope there are more articles,” said Fallon, who is now co-sponsoring Biggs' resolution, at the Feb. 1 press conference.
“We want to remove Alejandro Mayorkas because he is not supporting the American people,” said Fallon. He stated that “160 countries have had citizens cross our border illegally” under Biden.
“The drug cartels are marking wild profits of 25 billion by many estimates – but then they make an additional 13 billion from human smuggling so they’ve increased their profit by almost 50%,” the congressman added.
“Five million people have crossed the border illegally under Biden’s watch,” said Fallon. “That is not operational control by anyone’s definition.”
“I have a congressional responsibility to impeach figures who are in dereliction of their duties and commit crimes,” Biggs wrote on Twitter on Feb. 1. “If we don't impeach him, his attack on this nation will continue.”
President Joe Biden appointed Mayorkas to lead the DHS in November of 2020. At the time, he was celebrated as the first Latino and first immigrant to lead the department.
“I have been nominated to be the DHS Secretary and oversee the protection of all Americans and those who flee persecution in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones,” he tweeted after his nomination was announced.
Under President Barack Obama, Mayorkas developed and implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
If Biggs' resolution passes, Mayorkas would be the second impeached cabinet member in United States history. William W. Belknap, the 30th US Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant, was impeached on March 2, 1876 by the House but subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
