Title 42, the pandemic-era public health order that allowed for the immediate expulsion of migrants at the nation's borders, was allowed to expire by President Joe Biden's administration this week, which has sparked concern that the humanitarian and national security crisis already ongoing along the southern border will only grow worse.
Now a top Republican leader in Congress, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), is calling for the impeachment and removal from office of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, the Western Journal reported.
The Minnesota congressman argued that the "malfeasance" displayed by Mayorkas in failing to enforce existing border security and immigration laws had resulted in people "getting killed" along the border and made the effort to oust him from office necessary.
"They talk about being humane. Children are disappearing. People are getting killed," Rep. Emmer said of the Biden administration in an exclusive interview with Breitbart following the expiration of Title 42. "You’ve got 80 people that have come across the southern border that are on the terrorist watch list."
"This, to me, is the greatest malfeasance, and malfeasance is -- it’s not a failure to act -- it’s an intentional failure to act. Mayorkas should be impeached," he continued with regard to the administration's lax enforcement policies. "I think we should be talking seriously about that regardless of what this feckless Senate might want to do."
The rhetoric from Emmer against Mayorkas and the Biden administration more broadly, who he accused of having "blood on their hands," has been substantially sharpened since just earlier this year when the House GOP leadership team member had seemingly downplayed talk of impeachment as being "possible" but unlikely.
Rep. Emmer also appeared to express confidence that other House GOP members who've been hesitant to move forward with an impeachment effort against Mayorkas can now be convinced that the time is right to finally do so.
"I know that we’re going to have members -- much like other constitutional disagreements we’ve had, there’s probably going to be a member who says … who’s a stickler about high crimes and misdemeanors," the congressman said. "I believe if you look at the actual law and the precedent that’s been set -- and forget about the phony impeachment stuff that the Democrats have been doing for political stunts -- this one’s a real, real issue."
"You can see the pictures live every day. You have an administration and an idiot that’s in charge of the border. I don’t know where 85,000 children went," Emmer added in reference to reports of missing migrant children. "Please. It’s time for him to go. He should do the honorable thing and resign. He won’t. Therefore, he should be impeached."
The Hill reported that DHS Sec. Mayorkas seemed to dismiss the talk of possible impeachment efforts from the Republican-controlled House during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" with host Dana Bash to discuss the end of Title 42 and other Homeland Security concerns.
"I am focused on the work in front of us meeting the challenge, not only with respect to the southern border, but meeting the challenge of … the cyber threat from cyber criminals and adverse foreign nations states," Mayorkas said when asked about the threat of impeachment.
"I am focused on the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events," the secretary added. "I am focused on the adverse actions of the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Iran, Russia. I am focused on the work of the Department of Homeland Security. I will continue to focus on that work throughout my tenure."
Breitbart noted that a concerted push now by Rep. Emmer and other Republicans to impeach Sen. Mayorkas may have the full support of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), as he had signaled his openness to the idea of impeachment during a visit to the southern border in March.
"The one thing I’ve always said is we’re not like Democrats; we don’t do impeachment just for political purposes," McCarthy told the outlet at that time. "But if something rises to that occasion -- that’s why we will do all the homework on what has transpired down here and if that reaches to an impeachment inquiry, we’ll follow through with that."
