House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) suggested on Friday that there could be enough votes to fire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “by the end of this month.” did.
McCaul pointed to the rise in illegal border crossings and the fentanyl trafficking crisis, arguing that Mayorkas' actions merited impeachment.
“If you look at the Founding Fathers, when they talk about impeachment, they're talking about abuse of power and dereliction of duty…Mr. McCaul withdrew 'Remain in Mexico' on his first day,” McCaul told Fox News on Friday. said in an interview. The policy, introduced by former President Donald Trump in 2019, requires asylum seekers to wait for processing in Mexico.
“That means that instead of arresting, detaining and removing illegal aliens, they released them into our society by reintroducing catch and release,” he added. “This has caused pernicious harm to the fabric of America.”
His comments came days after House Republicans began a series of impeachment hearings against the DHS secretary.
At Wednesday's hearing, House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) criticized Mayorkas for failing to detain immigrants and releasing those who passed the initial screening into the country.
“Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of the devastation we have witnessed for nearly three years,” Green said.
“What we're seeing here is a deliberate violation of his oath of office,” he added, repeating baseless claims that the border crisis was “deliberate.” crisis. “
Earlier this week, Mayorkas pushed back against Republican claims that DHS is encouraging immigrants to enter the country illegally.
“After the end of Title 42 in May…through the end of the fiscal year, DHS expelled or returned more noncitizens without grounds to remain in the United States than in any other five months in the past decade,” he claimed. .
“In fact, the vast majority of all immigrants encountered at the Southwest border through this administration have been removed, deported or deported. The vast majority of them,” Mayorkas added.
The House voted in November to send articles of impeachment against the DHS secretary to the Committee on Greene. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) attempted to speed up the process, but her efforts were ultimately rejected.
House Republicans plan to hold additional hearings to consider possible impeachment against him. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday, but it is unclear whether Mayorkas has responded to the request to appear.
If they succeed, Mayorkas will become the second Cabinet secretary in history to be ousted.
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