House Republicans Continue To Promise For Accountability On Border Crisis
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (LA) led the largest delegation of GOP Congressional members to the Del Rio Sector on Wednesday to get an on-the-ground assessment of the ongoing border crisis. Wednesday’s delegation was the latest in a long line of Congressional members going to the southern border since the start of the crisis, which has left Republican voters asking, “What is going to be done about it?”
Johnson and other top Republicans promised during their press conference accountability is coming. One of the ways House Republicans plan to hold the Biden administration accountable is through impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. A recent vote to impeach Mayorkas failed because some within the GOP voted against the measure.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (TN) told me his committee has completed the investigation phase into Mayorkas and hearings starting this month will officially lay out the case for impeachment.
“A lot of those guys felt like an instantaneous, go-to-the-floor with an impeachment wasn’t due process. So we’ve been doing these five phases of an investigation, many of whom were waiting for the final end of that. We wrapped up the five phases, we’re going to summarize those here…I think we’ll get a lot of those guys and I’m pretty confident we’re going to pass it,” Green explained.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Eagle Pass, said the House Homeland Security Committee is “going to push hard” for impeaching Mayorkas.
“I think it’s long time for us to hold the Administration accountable and that’s a good start.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (OH) promised the GOP is going to look at the facts of the causes of the current crisis and they will make a decision based on the facts, “whether we’re talking about the secretary of Homeland Security or whether we’re talking about the president of the United States…both are responsible.”
Rep. Harriet Hageman (WY) said as a legislative body, Congress needs to put on a good case for starting the removal process of a Cabinet member.
“So I actually believe that we will be moving forward with impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas, it was just a matter of timing,” she added.
The first House Homeland Security Committee impeachment hearing starts on January 10.
“There is no valid basis to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, as senior members of the House majority have attested, and this extreme impeachment push is a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe.”
During an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Mayorkas did not agree with Republicans demanding extra funding to DHS only be used for detention and removal of illegal immigrants.
Despite social media postings and past remarks about illegal immigrants being put in “removal proceedings,” Mayorkas also admitted it does not surprise him that over 70 percent of recent illegal immigrants are released into the United States instead of being deported.
While illegal crossings into Eagle Pass dropped to a trickle during the delegation’s visit, there were a few times where illegal immigrants crossed the Rio Grande with the Congressional members standing close by.