Mayorkas to Face House Republicans Who Spearheaded Impeachment

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will sit in front of House members who voted to impeach him next week for his first meeting with the House Homeland Security Committee since its GOP leaders led his impeachment earlier this year.

Mayorkas is set to testify April 16 in what is expected to be a particularly tense confrontation with Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and other committee Republicans who’ve worked to oust him over the Biden administration’s border policies. Bloomberg Government is the first to report on the hearing.

The secretary sought to testify before the Homeland Security Committee during the impeachment proceedings earlier this year, but Republicans rejected his request for a different date than the one they’d offered.

The panel ultimately advanced a resolution against Mayorkas on party lines in February — setting up a historic House vote that made him the first Cabinet secretary impeached in almost 150 years — without testimony from him or any constitutional law experts.

Next week’s hearing will focus on the Department of Homeland Security’s budget request for fiscal 2025. The agency is seeking a $4.7 billion emergency fund to manage surges in unauthorized crossings at the US-Mexico border. The request would trim the Border Patrol’s budget and reduce Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention capacity below this year’s level.

Biden Renews Border Emergency Fund Proposal in Budget Plan

“This request is an insult to the millions of Americans who want their government to secure the border,” Green said in a statement to Bloomberg Government. Green also argued that the budget request fails to adequately fund efforts to address challenges related to artificial intelligence, combat terrorism, and counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

“The Committee looks forward to pressing Secretary Mayorkas for answers on these and numerous other aspects of this budget request,” Green said.

Mayorkas is set to discuss many of those same issues in hearings with House and Senate appropriators this Wednesday, the same day House Republicans plan to formally deliver impeachment articles to the Senate. The Senate’s Democratic majority is likely to quickly sideline the effort to remove Mayorkas from office.