05/18/2024

McCarthy calls on Mayorkas to resign or potentially face impeachment inquiry

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday called for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign over his handling of the migrant crisis at the southern border – or potentially face an impeachment inquiry when Republicans take control of the House next year.

His actions have produced the great wave of illegal immigration in recorded history,” McCarthy said at a press conference in El Paso, Texas during a tour of the southern border. “This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign.”

“He cannot and must not remain in that position,” he said. “If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure to determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry.”

McCarthy said that he had spoken to Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer, the ranking Republicans of the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, and said they have his complete support to investigate the “collapse” of the border.

“Those responsible for this disaster will be held accountable,” he said.

McCarthy was leading a delegation to the southern border in El Paso, Texas days after the Republicans secured a majority in the next Congress in the House of Representatives. Ahead of that press conference McCarthy told Fox News that, if he becomes Speaker, he plans to hold congressional border hearings physically at the border, a move he says will force Democrats to see the ongoing border crisis firsthand.

A growing number of Republicans have called for the impeachment of Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis, which has hammered the border since the beginning of 2021. There were over 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021 and over 2.3 million in FY 2022. FY 2023 is not shaping up to grant much relief to overwhelming border communities, with over 230,000 migrant encounters in October — the highest number for an October in years. Meanwhile, there has been a daily average of more than 2,500 “gotaways” getting past Border Patrol agents.

“I’m going to go down, sit down with Border Patrol agents, get first-hand knowledge of what is happening today because I don’t trust what Secretary Mayorkas has told the nation,” McCarthy said ahead of the trip.

Republicans have taken direct aim at Mayorkas as a focal point of the Biden administration’s leadership on the crisis. The secretary has angered Republicans by repeatedly claiming the border is “secure” as his agency has also claimed that the border is “closed.”

Republicans have accused the administration of fueling the crisis by rolling back Trump-era border policies such as the Remain-in-Mexico policy, as well as narrowing interior enforcement. House Republicans in July issued a blueprint for how they would secure the border, which included reinstating policies like the Remain-in-Mexico policy — which kept migrants in Mexico while their immigration claims were processed.