OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A leading Republican lawmaker in the House is done waiting for his party to initiate impeachment proceedings against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as human and drug smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border surges again.
On Friday, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) called for Mayorkas to be impeached, claiming his “failure to act” as the chief border official necessitates his removal while calling upon Congress to take action.
In an interview with Breitbart News in his Capitol Hill office, Emmer said since Mayorkas won’t resign voluntarily, “he should be impeached.”
Emmer discussed the contentious issue of impeachment, going on to say that the overwhelmed southern border stands as a prime example of what he deems as the “greatest malfeasance” by President Joe Biden’s top border official.
“They talk about being humane. Children are disappearing. People are getting killed,” Emmer said. “You’ve got 80 people that have come across the southern border that are on the terrorist watch list.”
Emmer’s remarks followed Biden’s decision to lift the Title 42 border barrier, a policy that former President Donald Trump implemented under the pretext of addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Title 42 had served as one of the last remaining tools for border officials to attempt to manage the influx of illegal migration at the border.
Join me in calling for the immediate impeachment of Marxist Secretary Mayorkas!
For "high crimes & misdemeanors"
against the Constitution! 🤨https://t.co/xQgPPP027g— Daniel F. Baranowski (@DFBHarvard) May 13, 2023
Before Thursday, according to federal data, U.S. border officials had encountered more than five million illegal migrants since Biden took office and reversed most of Trump’s immigration and border security policies on his first day.
“This, to me, is the greatest malfeasance, and malfeasance is — it’s not a failure to act — it’s an intentional failure to act. Mayorkas should be impeached,” Emmer said. “I think we should be talking seriously about that regardless of what this feckless Senate might want to do.”
Emmer, who is the No. 3 Republican in the House, also claimed that the Biden administration has “blood on their hands,” which is similar in context to what House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) said a day earlier at a press conference, Breitbart News noted.
“Mayorkas is guilty of child abuse, in my opinion, by not vetting the sponsors of the parents, supposedly, or sponsors of these children,” McCaul told reporters within a few minutes of the GOP-led House passing Republicans’ marquee border security bill on Thursday.
Shortly after taking over control of the chamber, House Republicans filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, the most recent coming in February. According to Fox News, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) introduced a new article of impeachment against Mayorkas that accuses him of violating his oath of office and refusing to enforce duly-passed immigration laws.
Impeachment MUST begin for Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas — all of whom intentionally failed to secure America. https://t.co/pgGsEVl5kO
— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) May 12, 2023
In January, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) filed the first articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.
“The one thing I’ve always said is we’re not like Democrats; we don’t do impeachment just for political purposes,” McCarthy said. “But if something rises to that occasion — that’s why we will do all the homework on what has transpired down here, and if that reaches to an impeachment inquiry, we’ll follow through with that.”
When asked about that standard, Emmer doubled down on his call for impeaching the DHS chief.
“I know that we’re going to have members — much like other constitutional disagreements we’ve had, there’s probably going to be a member who says … who’s a stickler about high crimes and misdemeanors,” Emmer said. “I believe if you look at the actual law and the precedent that’s been set — and forget about the phony impeachment stuff that the Democrats have been doing for political stunts — this one’s a real, real issue. You can see the pictures live every day. You have an administration and an idiot that’s in charge of the border. I don’t know where 85,000 children went.”
“Please,” Emmer said. “It’s time for him to go. He should do the honorable thing and resign. He won’t. Therefore, he should be impeached.”
