Marjorie Taylor Greene to force vote on impeaching DHS secretary

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is charging ahead with a new move to target the Biden administration: A push to force a vote on whether to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Georgia firebrand isn’t holding back under newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson, eager to put her colleagues on the record over an administration official frequently criticized by the GOP.

The resolution — which is expected to be privileged and therefore guaranteed a floor vote — alleges the DHS chief has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including failing to faithfully execute his constitutional duties, as well as violating the Secure the Fence Act, which says the Homeland Security secretary must maintain operational control of the border, among others.

The move comes a day after two of Greene’s constituents were killed in a car accident as the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants attempted to flee police in Batesville, Texas, according to local authorities.

“This is unacceptable! Alejandro Mayorkas is derelict of his duty to secure our Southern border and my constituents are dying!” Greene tweeted in response.

Mayorkas, who has testified before Congress eight times this calendar year, has strongly rejected what his office has called the GOP’s “baseless attacks.”

“Instead of continuing their reckless impeachment charades and attacks on law enforcement, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

Greene isn’t the first Republican to force the House to mull an impeachment charge on the floor. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) introduced articles of impeachment against Biden in June, though House GOP leaders were able to prevent a full House vote by convincing members to delay and refer the measure back to committee.

But unlike a vote on impeaching Biden — which several centrists have sought to avoid — a vote to impeach Mayorkas is less likely to draw such complaints. Even some Republicans in Biden-won districts are signaling they’d support such a move.

“I’m very confident that Secretary Mayorkas has failed in his responsibility. That’s like a no brainer,” said freshman Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.).

In fact, House Republicans, led by Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.), have spent most of this year investigating Mayorkas’s department — particularly on what he describes as a mismanagement of border issues — as they lay the groundwork for possible punishment. Green and others have made clear privately that they do intend to impeach Mayorkas, as the GOP’s evidence against him builds.

And Greene’s latest push may be a further sign of how the one-time McCarthy ally plans to operate full speed ahead in the weeks leading to come. She has long touted a list of federal officials she wants to impeach, starting with Mayorkas and ending with President Joe Biden.

Johnson’s predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, eventually leaned into supporting impeaching Mayorkas amid pressure from his right wing as he sought to secure the gavel, though he never brought a resolution to the floor.

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