Second Republican moves to impeach DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas

Rep. Andy Biggs announced Wednesday that he will file articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing the Biden administration official of “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to his handling of the border crisis. 

“Every day Secretary Mayorkas remains in office America becomes less safe,” Biggs (R-Ariz.) said in a statement. “Secretary Mayorkas is the chief architect of the migration and drug invasion at our southern border. His policies have incentivized more than 5 million illegal aliens to show up at our southern border — an all-time figure. Instead of enforcing the laws on the books and deporting or detaining these illegal aliens, the vast majority of them are released into the interior and never heard from again.” 

Biggs, who previously moved to impeach Mayorkas in 2021, is the second Republican lawmaker to file impeachment articles against the embattled DHS chief since the new Congress convened in January. 

Two weeks ago, fellow border-state lawmaker Pat Fallon (R-TX) filed three articles of impeachment against Mayorkas alleging that he has “engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties,” and has failed to maintain operational control of the border.

Biggs cited the “unabated” movement of drugs across the southern border, the halt to border wall construction, and the removal of Border Patrol agents from the “front lines” as reasons for Mayorkas’ removal.

“Thousands of pounds of drugs — including deadly fentanyl — continue to pour across the border unabated. Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45. These drugs could be stopped by a border fence and personnel, but Secretary Mayorkas has halted all wall construction and pulled agents from the front lines,” Biggs said. 

“It’s clear Secretary Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors. His conduct is willful and intentional. He is not enforcing the law and is violating his oath of office. For these reasons, Secretary Mayorkas should be impeached,” he added. 

Biggs’ resolution was co-sponsored by fellow Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Fallon. 

“The founders said that you have impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors — that’s constitutional,” Biggs said at a press conference Wednesday. “They didn’t say you have to be convicted of a felony. What they said is you have a public official who has violated public trust and there is nobody who typifies that more in my opinion than Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.”

He called for the GOP-led House to proceed “with this impeachment swiftly.” 

The House Judiciary Committee held its first hearing on the border crisis on Wednesday, during which Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) argued that the record number of migrants flooding into the US each month was proof the White House doesn’t have “operational control of the border.”

“Month and month after month we have set records for migrants coming into the country,” Jordan said in his opening remarks. “Frankly, I think it’s intentional. I don’t know how anyone with common sense or logic can reach any other conclusion. It seems deliberate, it seems premeditated, it seems intentional.”

Several top Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have also demanded that Mayorkas resign from his post amid unprecedented levels of illegal migrant crossings at the southern border under his watch. 

“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure and will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy said back in November 2022, during a visit to the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. 

Migrant crossings at the southern border surpassed 2.4 million in fiscal year 2022, breaking the previous record by more than 1 million, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.