Republican staffers on Capitol Hill have discussed a second impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with an eye toward blocking him from holding office in the future, The Washington Times reported Monday.
Mayorkas was impeached by House Republicans in February but the Senate, under Democrat leadership, didn't bring a trial. But with Republicans set to hold a 53-49 advantage in the Senate in the 119th Congress, GOP aides are mulling more accountability, even if it means impeaching and convicting Mayorkas after he is out of office.
"Staff people are talking about it among themselves," a longtime Republican aide told the Times. "Every time you think you've seen the most ridiculous possible thing his department has done, they manage to top it."
Conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote, which is still a long shot if Republican lawmakers proceed.
A former Customs and Border Protection official in the first Trump administration said a second impeachment is inadequate. Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of CBP, told the Times that perjury charges brought by the Justice Department against Mayorkas would be more appropriate.
"He was intentionally misleading the American people and hiding the magnitude of the chaos and lawlessness at the border and its impact on our country's safety and national security," Morgan told the Times. "He should be held accountable for those lies."
More than 11.5 million illegal immigrants have poured across the border into the U.S. on Mayorkas' watch, according to a House Homeland Security Committee report in May, a number that includes 2 million gotaways. However, President-elect Donald Trump has estimated the total number to be more than 20 million.
"He oversees the border. He is the secretary of Homeland Security. He is Mr. Border Security. All of this falls under his responsibility. Nobody has been held accountable, and he is the accountable party," Emilio Gonzalez, former chief of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said of Mayorkas to the Times.
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Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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