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At last count, the House Republicans’ impeachment list included President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, six Cabinet secretaries, the director of the FBI, and a federal prosecutor some conservatives don’t like. But there’s one figure in particular the party has focused on for quite a while.
On the first day of the current Congress, Republican Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas filed articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and his resolution currently has 47 GOP cosponsors. Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona later unveiled his own Mayorkas impeachment measure, and it’s picked up 34 GOP cosponsors.
In fact, as of this week, there are four separate impeachment resolutions against the DHS chief — who, it’s worth emphasizing, hasn’t actually committed any high crimes — which is more than anyone else in the administration except the president himself. (Republicans have filed six separate impeachment resolutions targeting Biden.)
It’s against this backdrop that one notoriously right-wing member is ready to call the question. Politico reported:
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.
To be sure, this doesn’t come as too big of a surprise. The Department of Homeland Security hired outside counsel to prepare for potential impeachment proceedings as far back as February, and as Politico’s report added, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, the Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, has spent much of the year moving in this direction.
But Georgia’s Greene is moving the matter from the back burner to the front. There have been no impeachment hearings related to the DHS chief, but for some of Mayorkas’ far-right critics, there’s apparently no point in bothering with such a process.
A Washington Post report added, “The resolution is privileged, which means the House has to move on it within 48 business hours. Greene said she expects a vote next week.”
It’s difficult to say with confidence what will happen, and there are not yet any reliable head-counts available, but with House Republicans struggling to prevent a government shutdown next week, it’s likely that some members will be at least a little uncomfortable taking time for an impeachment stunt when Congress has actual work to do.
As the process moves forward, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is the historical oddity of such an effort: The only time in American history that a cabinet secretary was impeached was in 1876, when the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap — after he left office — over alleged bribes. (He was later acquitted by senators.)
The second is that even if Mayorkas is impeached, there’s little to suggest the Senate would convict him and remove him from office. Politico reported that some GOP senators “are openly signaling that even if impeachment managed to squeak through the House, it would quickly die in their chamber — and not just at the hands of the Democratic majority.”
Finally, there’s no reason to assume that House Republicans would stop with the Homeland Security secretary: The vote on Greene’s resolution will likely be the start, not the end, of the GOP’s impeachment circus.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.