Mayorkas says he’s done nothing wrong: Says Republican calls for his impeachment are ‘political’

Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said he takes the House impeachment inquiry ‘seriously’ even if he believes he did nothing wrong. 

In an episode of ‘Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?’ released Friday, Wallace asked Mayorkas how seriously he takes the push by a group of rightwing Freedom Caucus Republicans. 

‘Oh, I take them seriously. It is the leadership of the House that provided those remarks. I don’t dismiss it by any measure. But what I do is I focus on my work,’ Mayorkas said. 

‘What do you think is the basis for their calling for your impeachment? Do you think you’ve done anything wrong?’ Wallace asked. 

‘No, I don’t. I think it is a disagreement over policy. And I think it is used for political purposes to continue a negative dialogue about a migration challenge that is not unique to the United States, to continue that dialogue to uplift it for political reasons.’ 

Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said he take the House impeachment inquiry ‘seriously’ even if he believes he did nothing wrong

Still, he said he would testify before Congress if asked.

‘I intend to appear when Congress calls me to do so,’ Mayorkas said. ‘I don’t have any intention of being uncooperative.’

Last week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hired impeachment attorneys as House Republicans moved forward with their plan to oust Mayorkas.

New York-based firm Debevoise & Plimpton will represent the department and the secretary himself at taxpayer expense, sources told Politico. The firm will advise on how to handle document requests and questions from congressional investigators and will defend DHS if Republicans move to trial.

Impeachment proceedings have not been brought against a Cabinet member since 1876, but Republicans are emboldened by Democrats moving to impeach Trump twice. 

Speaker Kevin McCarthy has not endorsed impeaching Mayorkas but said if the secretary does not resign, GOP investigations will determine whether they will begin an impeachment inquiry. 

More moderate Republicans have been hesitant to sign on to the Mayorkas ouster, saying they want to break the cycle of using impeachment as a political weapon. 

Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon officially filed the articles of impeachment in January. The articles were referred to the House Judiciary Committee.  

Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs first introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in August 2021 after claiming the DHS secretary’s dereliction of duty resulted at the border amounts to high crimes and misdemeanors.

Migrants walk along the United States side of the Rio Grande river beneath the border wall to surrender to US Border Patrol agents in El Paso, Texas

Migrants approach the border wall in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Considering the House was still controlled by Democrats in the 117th Congress, the articles went nowhere.

Now that Republicans are in power in the House, it’s likely to, at least, receive a vote.

Even if impeachment charges are successful and move to the Democrat-controlled Senate, it would require a two-thirds vote to pass, which is more than highly unlikely and would likely result in acquittal.

Wallace also asked Mayorkas what a ‘secure’ border meant to him. 

‘What our goal, is to achieve operational control of the border, to do everything that we can to support our personnel with the resources, the technology, the policies that really advance the security of the border, and do not come at the cost of the values of our country,’ Mayorkas said. 

Republicans behind the plan to impeach Mayorkas have long maintained that he lied before Congress in an April hearing when he was asked if he had operational control of the border and responded, ‘We do.’ 

Last month border encounters saw a steep drop over the prior month -156,274 in January over 251,978 in December. Fiscal year 2022 saw the largest number of border encounters ever on record at 2.4 million. So far four months into fiscal year 2023 there have been 874,000.