House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is no longer promising to wrap up his probe into DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by the end of the year, citing the tedious nature of the almost yearlong investigation.
Green, who is expected to hand over his findings to the House Judiciary Committee when finished, said he didn’t want to rush the process. In an interview, Green also wouldn’t say whether his investigation would recommend Mayorkas be impeached.
“When my committee makes a recommendation, it’ll be substantiated by the evidence,” Green told us. “That’s the best I can say. I don’t want to create false hope or anything.”
Republicans were once hungry to impeach Mayorkas for what they say is his negligence at the U.S.-Mexico border. But most of the House GOP conference’s attention is now fully focused on impeaching President Joe Biden, leaving little political oxygen for much else.
There is only one report left to be unveiled by the Homeland Security Committee in its five-phase investigation into Mayorkas, which has accused him of “dereliction of duty.” Green has also changed the timeline for delivering these reports several times throughout the year.
That hasn’t stopped House conservatives from ratcheting up their demands for Mayorkas’ removal. Only one Cabinet official has been impeached in U.S. history.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said leadership needs to prioritize Mayorkas over Biden when it comes to impeachment, saying it’ll be impossible to do both this Congress.
“They need to focus on what they can get,” Norman told us. “Mayorkas is easier than impeaching the president of the United States.”
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), an ardent supporter of impeaching Mayorkas and member of the Homeland Security Committee, said his panel’s probe needs to be sped up.
“I’m very concerned it’s going too slowly since I got here,” Crane said. “I’ve been frustrated with it from the start.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), another committee member, filed a privileged resolution to impeach Mayorkas on Wednesday afternoon.
This is the second time Greene has tried to impeach Mayorkas this month. The first time lawmakers effectively killed the effort by voting to refer the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee. It’s unlikely the result will be any different than last time.
Greene said she plans to keep filing her resolution every week until Mayorkas is impeached. At the same time, she also defended Green’s pace on the committee investigation.
“All of the stats and figures that I quote in my articles of impeachment came out of our investigation into Mayorkas,” Greene told us. “I think Mark Green absolutely supports impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, but his comments may be that he doesn’t have faith in other Republicans to vote right on the floor.”
Meanwhile, DHS has accused Congress of “wasting time” on impeachment efforts against Mayorkas, defending the work he’s done overseeing the agency.
“Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation,” said Mia Ehrenberg, DHS spokesperson. “This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities.”
Green told us he would support MTG’s impeachment resolution on the floor, as he did last time.
“I would vote my district, which is to impeach him,” Green said. “When I’m on the floor, I am a congressman. When I’m here, I am a chairman of a committee that represents the entire United States, so it’s different.”
— Mica Soellner
