Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced new articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, seeking a do-over after her previous attempt was narrowly derailed.
The Georgia Republican said Mr. Mayorkas has “violated his oath” of office by unleashing a massive wave of illegal immigration and then losing track of many of those who were caught and released. She also said Mr. Mayorkas has “lost the trust” of Americans.
“I reintroduced my articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas because impeachment is EXACTLY what the founders intended for the House to do when a member of the executive branch intentionally violates the laws written by the legislative branch,” the congresswoman said on social media.
Ms. Greene’s first attempt at impeachment earlier this month failed after eight Republicans joined all Democrats in sending her impeachment resolution back to a committee, effectively killing it.
That failure irked Ms. Greene, who called it “absolutely unbelievable” that the GOP wasn’t united on the question.
Ahead of her new impeachment resolution on Wednesday, she took to social media to complain that the House was rushing to oust one of its own members, New York Republican Rep. George Santos, before it could muster impeachment for Mr. Mayorkas or President Biden.
She also highlighted a new Rasmussen Reports poll that found majority support for impeaching Mr. Mayorkas.
Democrats have defended Mr. Mayorkas against impeachment, saying the GOP’s complaints about him amount to differences in policy, not the high crimes or misdemeanors required under the Constitution to oust someone.
Mr. Mayorkas, for his part, has cast attacks on him as attacks on his employees. He says they are working hard to secure the border.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg repeated that point in response to Ms. Greene’s new impeachment attempt.
“Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation. This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities,” she said in a statement.
The eight Republicans who sided with Democrats in the first vote earlier this month gave varying reasons, but they boiled down to objections about the process — the House usually launches an impeachment inquiry before moving to impeach someone — and to questions about whether Mr. Mayorkas’ conduct crossed the line.
Ms. Greene on Wednesday dismissed those complaints.
“These members whine about ‘due process’ while protecting Mayorkas from facing accountability for his violation of our border security laws,” she said. “Impeachment IS due process. It would put Mayorkas in front of the Senate to face trial.”
Ms. Greene introduced her resolution as “privileged” business, meaning the House must take it up within two legislative days.
Impeachment requires only a majority vote in the House, which sends the matter over to the Senate for a trial and final vote on ouster.
Even if the House does impeach Mr. Mayorkas, he is unlikely to be convicted and removed by the Senate
Only one Cabinet official has ever been impeached, Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, and that came a month after he had resigned. The Senate held a trial but couldn’t muster the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.