U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is willing to testify before a Republican-led House of Representatives committee seeking to impeach him for allegedly encouraging illegal immigration with his policies, a department official said in a letter on Thursday.
The letter, sent to the Republican chairman Mark Green and reviewed by Reuters, revealed that the Department of Homeland Security is prepared to discuss possible dates for Mayorkas to appear as a witness in the proceedings against him.
Reuters also reported that Republicans have progressively focused on the border crisis and illegal administration in the countdown to the Nov. 5 elections that will decide control of the White House and Congress. The committee commenced impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas on Wednesday during a hearing where they blamed him for record levels of migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Democrats dismissed the hearing as a political stunt and said Republicans should instead pass a White House proposal that would provide roughly $14 billion for border management. In the letter to Republican Chairman Mark Green, assessed by Reuters, went on to praise Mayorka's ongoing conversations with a bipartisan group of senators trying to craft border security legislation, saying he "is working with this group in a good-faith effort to break the gridlock."
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the panel, called the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas "baseless."
According to CNN, should the Homeland Security Secretary be impeached, it would be an exceedingly rare event. Only one Cabinet official has ever been impeached in American history -- Secretary of War, William Belknap in 1876.
What Does The Constitution Say?
CNN stated that the Constitution sets the standard for impeachment as treason, bribery, or "high crimes and misdemeanors." Legal experts and conservative scholars have argued that policy disputes don't rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. Green argued during the hearing that impeachment does not have to be limited to limited to criminal behavior, but can also be a way to remove officials guilty of "gross incompetence."
"The constitutional history is overwhelmingly clear on this subject - the founders designed impeachment not just to remove officials engaged in criminal behavior, but those guilty of such gross incompetence that their conduct had endangered their fellow Americans, betrayed the public trust or represented a neglect of duty," Green communicated to CNN.
The House Homeland Security Committee has planned a second impeachment hearing on Jan. 18 and Mayorkas is expected to attend.
