Republicans hedging on impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are "hiding behind the Constitution," says Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
"More Republicans have come to the understanding and realization that he indeed has committed high crimes and misdemeanors by virtue of not following in the duty," Roy said about the DHS chief Thursday, as Fox News' Harris Faulkner interjected, asking, "Who doesn't think that, among Republicans?"
"There are a handful that are still holding on to, I think, an outdated perspective, and hiding behind the Constitution rather than enforcing it."
Republicans proposed impeaching Mayorkas well before they won the House majority last November. This year, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the GOP chair of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, have been conducting a multi-step investigation into the situation at the southern border.
But most GOP lawmakers at the hearing avoided specifically calling for the secretary's impeachment during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Politico that an impeachment trial for Mayorkas would take Congress' attention off more serious matters.
"Honestly, Mayorkas is failing at his job, but what does impeachment out of the House gonna get you? … It's going to be a lot of effort and does that not take us off other priorities? I think it does," Bacon said.
"The real issue is Joe Biden," he added. ... "We need to get a new president in '24. That is the ultimate answer."
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has opened the door to impeachment but has not formally embraced it.
Roy says he is not discouraged.
"So, we're going to go forward; the numbers are getting close," he told Fox. "But the main thing to remember is, I'm going to throw every ounce of my being to stop any continuing resolution and any funding of the Department of Homeland Security. Our leadership, Republicans, should be on notice, this is not going to go easily.
"We're going to secure this border, or we're going to damn well grind this place to a halt until they do."