Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, was urged to resign on Tuesday by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who was speaking alongside Republicans in El Paso, Texas. Mayorkas was accused of failing to secure the southern border.
McCarthy said that if Mayorkas does not step down, House Republicans will look into him and his department to see if impeachment procedures should be started.
McCarthy specifically cited the recent suicides of Border Patrol agents, the Biden administration’s decision to scrap the “Remain in Mexico” program, a scheme designed to limit immigration at the southern border, and Biden’s efforts to scrap Title 42, a Trump-era Covid policy that allowed authorities to restrict asylum seekers from crossing the border.
“Due to his acts, there has never been a greater wave of illegal immigration. McCarthy, standing alongside other House Republicans, said, “Secretary Mayorkas’s negligence may never let our nation to fully recover. “For this reason, I’m urging the Secretary to step down now. He must leave that position immediately. He cannot.
McCarthy stated, “If Secretary Mayorkas does not step down, House Republicans will look into every directive, every action, and every failure [and] will evaluate whether we can launch an impeachment investigation.
McCarthy’s comments come as he has been battling to secure the 218 Republican votes he will require to be elected speaker of the House on January 3.
When House Republicans seize control the next year, many conservatives who are refusing to support them urge that Mayorkas be removed from office. The comments McCarthy made on Tuesday were seen as a part of his efforts to win over some of those stubborn conservatives.
In a tweet, a White House official reminded that McCarthy had visited the border and unsuccessfully demanded Mayorkas’s resignation in April.
“McCarthy travelled to the border, pulled a pointless political spectacle, and threatened to remove Secretary Mayorkas. As of April, “According to a tweet from White House spokesman Ian Sams.
Instead of drawing lessons from the historically poor midterm performance of House Rs, he is figuratively dusting over old news.
