Reps. Bentz, Chavez-DeRemer vote in favor of Mayorkas impeachment, but House vote narrowly fails
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Reaffirming their recent public stance, Reps. Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer voted late Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, though the move narrowly failed by just two votes.
Bentz released the following statement after voting in favor of impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:
"It has been said that Secretary Mayorkas is dishonest, duplicitous, and derelict in his duties. I agree. However, it has also been said that such conduct does not rise to the constitutionally required 'high crimes and misdemeanors.' That legal conclusion may or may not be true, but when we add in the Secretary’s willful refusal to comply with and enforce the nation’s laws along with his explicit direction to DHS (Department of Homeland Security) employees to NOT enforce the law, we satisfy, in my opinion, the High Crime and Misdemeanor standard.
"Fortunately, the Articles of Impeachment now before the House (they passed out of the House Committee on Homeland Security last week) are dramatically more complete than was the case back in November (where another set of articles of impeachment was brought up to soon), since they now contain facts and legal theories that actually support impeachment. As I said last week on the House floor: 'If we fail to follow best practices in this effort, impeachment will soon become little more than a sad and ineffective means of expressing dissatisfaction with the policies of the opposing party.' Chairman Mark Green of the House Committee on Homeland Security is to be commended for his efforts to get this process right. (As an aside, Article II of the impeachment Articles, which includes obstruction, could have recited what we members of the Judiciary Committee observed, as the Secretary dodged our questions regarding his Department’s activities. It seemed to me then that his responses were designed to obstruct our efforts to elicit what he was ordering his department to do and not to do on the border.)
"Most House Republicans are committed to properly conducting the process of impeachment. Because we followed "regular order" (the step-by-step procedural sequence called out by the Constitution and past practice), there is now evidence in the record that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, intentionally flouted immigration law and disregarded his constitutional duty to secure America’s borders. Secretary Mayorkas deserves to be impeached, and I cast my vote in favor of impeachment."
Chavez-DeRemer issued this statement after the vote:
“We have laws on the books that would immediately curb the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, but Secretary Mayorkas and the executive branch have refused to do their job and enforce them. As a result, there have been at least 1.5 million migrants who’ve successfully evaded law enforcement under Mayorkas’ watch. This past fiscal year, 169 individuals on the terrorist watch list were apprehended trying to cross the border – the most on record. Over 26,000 pounds of fentanyl was seized, which is enough to kill nearly six billion people. That massive number only represents around 5 to 10 percent of illegal drugs that are smuggled across the border. It’s no coincidence that our governor has declared a state of emergency over the fentanyl crisis – every state is now a border state.
“Secretary Mayorkas’ extreme dereliction of duty has put the lives of both migrants and American citizens at risk. He has failed to uphold his oath to defend the Constitution and has lost the confidence of the American people. I recognize impeachment is a serious and significant action under our Constitution, and I carefully considered all of the facts before reaching a decision. In this case, the evidence presented by the Homeland Security Committee made it clear that impeachable offenses were committed. The American people deserve a change in leadership at DHS,” Chavez-DeRemer said.
