Conflicting claims of fact and irreconcilable differences of opinion stand out as Congress begins another attempt to remove an executive branch official.
House Republicans on Sunday unveiled two Articles of Impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, citing him for refusing to enforce multiple immigration laws, creating new programs that specifically defy congressional intent, and lying to Congress about multiple aspects of the crisis on the U.S. border with Mexico.
The articles are due for markup on Tuesday before the House Homeland Security Committee, led by Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.)
The first article charges Mr. Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” while the second article accuses him of “breach of public trust.”
“Throughout his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, [he] has repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security,” the resolution’s first article states.
“In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States. His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security and has had a dire impact on communities across the country,” it continues.
In the second impeachment article, Mr. Mayorkas is accused of willfully violating his public trust by having “knowingly made false statements, and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security (hereinafter referred to as ‘DHS’), principally to obfuscate the results of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.
“[He] has engaged in this scheme or course of conduct through the following means: (1) [He] knowingly made false statements to Congress that the border is ’secure,‘ that the border is ’no less secure than it was previously,’ that the border is closed,’ and that DHS has ‘operational control’ of the border,” it states.
