The US House of Representatives voted on Monday to pause the effort to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, halting a Republican campaign that alleges he has been derelict in his duty in managing the US-Mexico border.
The articles of impeachment, introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican representative, on Thursday, contend that Mayorkas, an appointee of Joe Biden, violated his oath of office by failing to constrain the record numbers of migrants arriving at the border.
The House voted to refer the articles back to the House homeland security committee, which is carrying out its own investigation of Mayorkas’s alleged dereliction of duty.
The move comes as Congress has less than five days to extend funding or send the US into its fourth partial government shutdown in a decade.
The impeachment comes after months of threats from Republicans, who blame Biden’s administration for rolling back harsh restrictions on accepting migrants and asylum seekers put in place under Donald Trump, a Republican.
If the Republican-controlled House impeaches Mayorkas, he will almost definitely be found innocent after a trial in the Senate, which Democrats control by a slim margin.
In response to the initial impeachment motion, a US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said lawmakers should stop “their reckless impeachment charades and attacks on law enforcement” and instead “deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system”.
Since Biden took office in 2021, US border agents have made more than 5 million arrests of migrants making irregular crossings – that is, not through a controlled border station – over the US-Mexico border. Migrants have arrived from around the world; large numbers have fled economic and political turmoil in Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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Both Biden and Trump are seeking another term in office in 2024, with Trump the leading candidate for the Republican nomination.
House Republicans have also launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden. The probe is focused on the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and the White House has denied any wrongdoing.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
