KEY VOTE: “Yes” on Impeaching Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas (H. Res. 863)

The unprecedented border, national security, and illegal immigration catastrophe in the United States today is clear. The evidence of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s role in creating that catastrophe is undeniable. The case for impeachment is equally strong and compelling. It is the constitutional duty of the U.S. House of Representatives to challenge this Senate-confirmed cabinet secretary’s persistent refusal to enforce the law. Secretary Mayorkas has gone far beyond what is tolerable and consistent with the duties and privileges of his office and should be impeached.

While the Biden administration and Secretary Mayorkas have a myriad of policies worth scrutiny and disagreement, the case against the secretary is not political—it’s legal. Our government cannot function if those sworn to uphold the law are not held accountable when they act in direct contravention of the law—even when they do so at the command of the president. As Steve Bradbury, distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation, points out: “What’s at issue in this impeachment is not just a policy dispute over how best to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Mayorkas is actively nullifying and undermining those laws.”

Further, impeaching and removing Secretary Mayorkas will significantly limit President Biden’s ability to continue his lawless immigration agenda by subjecting intense scrutiny for his replacement by Congress and the public.

The framers of the Constitution designed a system of checks and balances. A recent Supreme Court decision affirmed Congress’s power and appropriateness to respond to a Cabinet member’s defiance of the law through impeachment. In holding that Texas lacked standing to challenge Mayorkas’s refusal to enforce immigration laws, this is one of the only tools available to hold his lawlessness to account.

Three-fourths of Americans now believe the situation at the border is “a crisis” or “very serious.” Secretary Mayorkas’s intentional dismantling of border security policies has caused devastating consequences, with nearly 10 million illegal aliens entering our country—including cartel members, convicted criminals, and potential terrorists. He is knowingly facilitating the cartel's perverse operations of human, drug, and sex trafficking throughout the entire county. And it costs each American taxpayer, on average, $1,100 per year to pay the cost of this invasion.

He has violated his oath of office, abused the powers of his office, and betrayed the trust of the American people. Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas will set an important precedent to discourage this extraordinary misconduct by future cabinet members.