What is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border?

The Biden administration is struggling with a sharp rise in the number of migrants arriving at the border. According to the latest report from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection released more than 2.3 million migrants into the country at the southern border under the Biden administration, allowing in the vast majority of migrant families and some adult groups. Last month 249,785 illegal crossings were recorded along the U.S.-Mexico border, the highest monthly total, and Biden officials acknowledged that the majority of the migrants were released into the United States with pending claims for protection. The latest influx has worsened strains on New York, Chicago, Denver and other cities whose Democratic mayors are pleading for more federal aid to shelter and assist the newcomers, including the thousands of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Republicans have been galvanized by the record numbers of illegal crossings and have tied Biden’s push for more aid to war-torn Ukraine to the passage of conservative immigration policy. A bipartisan group of senators is negotiating with the White House and Mayorkas on a potential deal that lawmakers believe could help drive down illegal crossings. Last week, Biden shocked many when he declared that he would “shut down” the southern border when illegal crossings surge to overwhelming levels if the bipartisan deal passes. The president has already taken more than 500 executive actions on immigration since becoming president, surpassing former president Donald Trump’s four-year total, according to a recent tally by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Still, the Biden administration’s management of the southern border and immigration is his worst-rated issue in polls, and the issue has become a sticking point in the 2024 election.

Why are House Republicans trying to impeach Mayorkas?

An effort to impeach Mayorkas has loomed ever since Republicans assumed the majority in the House. Republicans have long maintained that Mayorkas has been derelict in his duty to secure the border, citing a 2006 law that requires the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to maintain “operational control” over the border. In a report gathered by the Homeland Security Committee last year, Republicans also argued that Mayorkas has failed to “enforce laws passed by Congress” and to “fulfill his oath of office.” Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), during a hearing earlier this month, said the investigation’s findings, “coupled with the secretary’s refusal to change course on the reckless decisions facilitating this crisis, have left us with no reasonable alternative than to pursue the possibility of impeachment.” Republicans, however, have not clearly explained what impeaching Mayorkas would accomplish in changing immigration policy and addressing the situation at the border.

What are the two articles of impeachment being brought against the DHS secretary?

Republicans argue in the first article that Mayorkas has failed to enforce U.S. immigration policies at the nation’s border, disregarded laws passed by Congress and ignored court orders, allowing for a surge of migration at the southern border that has resulted in record highs of illegal crossings in recent months. Republicans say Mayorkas “repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security” and that, largely because of this, “millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis.” They specifically focus on provisions established in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as well as on lower-court decisions on lawsuits brought against Mayorkas by Republican state attorneys general. Frank O. Bowman III, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Law who argued before the Homeland Security panel in early January that Republicans’ interpretation of impeachment law in the Mayorkas case is flawed, said there is no evidence that Mayorkas has broken any immigration laws. In an interview with The Washington Post, Bowman said the first article relies on “cherry-picked” language from multiple lower court and federal court decisions in cases in which Republican state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against DHS. “The first article is essentially a claim that the various policy decisions of the secretary, with which they happen to disagree, are ‘violations of law,’ which have produced, in their view, a whole bunch of bad consequences,” Bowman said. “Their claims that he has violated the law [are] wrong because virtually every one of them is an argument about the way in which the secretary has interpreted the frankly contradictory provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act and other immigration legislation.” The second article charges Mayorkas with breach of the public trust, accusing him of making false statements and obstructing oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. On the “obstruction” front, Green, the committee chairman, invited Mayorkas to testify at the committee’s second impeachment hearing on Jan. 18 and, while Mayorkas responded that he had a scheduling conflict and offered to testify on another date, Green declined the offer and moved forward with the hearing. It was held on a day Mayorkas was preparing to host a delegation of Mexican officials to discuss migration issues at the U.S.-Mexico border and also was spotted on the other side of the Capitol, negotiating with the Senate on a border security deal. Shortly thereafter, Green issued a letter outlining 31 requests to the department that remained “partially or entirely unsatisfied,” signaling an obstruction charge to come. Homeland Security officials noted that Mayorkas already testified before Congress more than any other Cabinet member — 27 times in 35 months — and that the department provided 90 witnesses for committee hearings since the start of the Biden administration, along with over 13,000 pages of documents and data in response to Green’s requests. On the “false statements” claim, Republicans argue that Mayorkas lied to Congress by claiming that the border is “secure,” “closed,” “no less secure than it was previously,” and that DHS has “operational control” of the border as defined in the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Bowman, the law professor, argued these claims have no legal basis given that Republicans are focusing on semantics rather than law. “They basically don’t like the adjectives and adverbs that Mayorkas uses to describe the success of his own department,” he said.

Where does the impeachment process stand?

Early Wednesday morning, in an 18-15 vote along party lines following a marathon meeting, members of the Homeland Security Committee advanced the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. The articles are now headed to the House floor. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week said he would hold a vote on impeaching Mayorkas “as soon as possible.” If the impeachment effort succeeds in the House, it will then go to the Senate — where it will likely fail. Green told reporters Tuesday that it did not matter if the Senate ultimately did not convict Mayorkas. “I’m doing what is, I think, my duty, and votes will be what votes are,” he said.

What happens if the House votes to impeach Mayorkas?

If the House votes to impeach Mayorkas — making him the first Cabinet member to be impeached in almost 150 years — he is unlikely to be convicted in a trial in the Senate. Earlier this month, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who is serving as the lead Republican negotiator on a bipartisan immigration deal and who has been in regular conversation with Mayorkas on the package, told reporters that while he understands why his colleagues in the House are frustrated with Mayorkas, the secretary is ultimately doing his job — “gearing up President Biden’s policies.” “That’s what a secretary is going to do,” Lankford said. “So you can swap secretaries, the policies are going to be exactly the same.” The Senate is not required to hold a trial. Instead, the chamber could refer the articles of impeachment to a smaller committee, or move to vote on a motion to dismiss the charges. If — and this is a big, unlikely if — Mayorkas is ultimately convicted by the Senate, Biden would simply appoint someone else to the job. Amy B Wang, Maria Sacchetti and Nick Miroff contributed to this report.

The Republican effort to impeach Mayorkas, explained

By Mariana Alfaro

and

Jacqueline Alemany

Updated January 31, 2024 at 6:51 a.m. EST|Published January 30, 2024 at 5:40 p.m. EST

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is being accused of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and breaching the public trust. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

9 min

House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee voted early Wednesday to advance two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over failure to enforce U.S. immigration policies at the border. The articles accuse Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and breaching the public trust.