On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made his strongest statements yet regarding possible impeachment action by the new GOP majority in the House of Representatives, zeroing in on Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas.
As reported by CNN, McCarthy gave remarks at the southern border with several other Republican members of Congress, highlighting the disastrous immigration policy of the Biden Administration and calling on Mayorkas to resign; if Mayorkas does not resign, McCarthy vowed, then the House majority would pursue impeachment proceedings against him.
“Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty. This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign,” said McCarthy. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure. And we will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”
In response, a DHS spokeswoman released a statement doubling down on Mayorkas’s policies, falsely declaring that the border is secure and challenging Congress to come up with a legislative solution to the border crisis.
“Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of this Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people. He has no plans to resign,” read the statement. “The Department will continue our work to enforce our laws and secure our border, while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system. Members of Congress should come to the table and work on solutions for our broken system and outdated laws, which have not been overhauled in over 40 years.”
McCarthy’s impeachment promise reflects a drastic shift to the right for the would-be Speaker, as he faces an uphill battle to securing every Republican representative’s vote in his bid to become the leader of the chamber. As Republicans are facing a majority of no greater than 3-5 seats above the 218-vote threshold, McCarthy cannot afford to lose any Republican support.
To this end, he has also promised to kick several radical Democrats off their committees, including Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), alongside other conservative priorities for hitting back at the Democrats after they carried out similar actions over the last two years.
While McCarthy has continued to voice his opposition to plans to impeach Joe Biden, there have been calls to impeach several of his Cabinet secretaries, with Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland often being at the top of the list. Mayorkas has long been criticized for refusing to enforce immigration laws and expanding Biden’s open-borders, pro-amnesty approach, which has only encouraged hordes of illegal aliens to flood the border, producing a massive health, economic, and security crisis in multiple states.
Garland has also been heavily criticized for his role in politicizing the Department of Justice, using it as a weapon to hunt down and persecute the Biden Administration’s political opponents, including former Trump Administration officials as well as little-known conservative activists.
The election for Speaker of the House will take place on January 3rd. McCarthy won the Republican Party’s nomination in a closed-door vote, defeating conservative Congressman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). On the Democratic side, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, is widely expected to be the frontrunner to replace outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).