Mayorkas says he has done nothing wrong: Says Republican calls for his impeachment are ‘political’

Second. Alejandro Mayorkas said he takes the House impeachment inquiry “seriously,” even if he believes he did nothing wrong.

In an episode of ‘Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?’ posted Friday, Wallace asked Mayorkas how seriously he takes the push of a group of right-wing Republicans from the Freedom Caucus.

‘Oh, I take them seriously. It is the House leadership who provided those comments. I do not rule it out in any way. But what I do is concentrate on my work,’ Mayorkas said.

‘What do you think is the basis for requesting your impeachment? Do you think you have done something wrong? Wallace asked.

‘No, i do not do it. I think it’s a disagreement on policy. And I think it’s used for political purposes to continue a negative dialogue about an immigration challenge that is not unique to the United States, to continue that dialogue to elevate it for political reasons.’

Still, he said he would testify before Congress if asked.

“I intend to appear when Congress calls me to do so,” Mayorkas said. I have no intention of not cooperating.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hired impeachment lawyers as House Republicans moved forward with their plan to oust Mayorkas.

The New York-based firm Debevoise & Plimpton will represent the department and the secretary himself at taxpayer expense, sources told Politico. The firm will advise on how to handle document requests and questions from congressional investigators and will defend DHS if Republicans go to trial.

No impeachment proceedings have been launched against a cabinet member since 1876, but Republicans are emboldened by Democrats who are moving to impeach Trump twice.

Chairman Kevin McCarthy has not endorsed Mayorkas’ accusation, but said if the secretary does not resign, GOP investigations will determine whether to launch an impeachment inquiry.

More moderate Republicans have hesitated to sign off on Mayorkas, saying they want to break the cycle of using impeachment as a political weapon.

Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon officially filed the articles of impeachment in January. The articles were referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs first filed the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in August 2021 after asserting that the DHS secretary’s dereliction of duty resulted at the border as felonies and misdemeanors.

Given that the House was still controlled by Democrats in the 117th Congress, the articles went nowhere.

Now that the Republicans are in power in the House, he’s likely to get at least one vote.

Even if the impeachment charges are successful and pass to the Democratic-controlled Senate, it would require a two-thirds vote to pass, which is more than likely and would likely result in acquittal.

Wallace also asked Mayorkas what a ‘secure’ border meant to him.

‘Our goal is to achieve operational control of the border, to do everything we can to support our staff with the resources, the technology, the policies that actually advance border security, and not at the cost of our country’s values. ‘ Mayorkas said.

The Republicans behind the plan to impeach Mayorkas have long maintained that he lied before Congress at an April hearing when asked if he had operational control of the border and replied: “We do.”

Last month, border encounters saw a sharp drop from the previous month: 156,274 in January versus 251,978 in December. Fiscal year 2022 saw the most border encounters ever recorded at 2.4 million. So far in four months of fiscal year 2023 there have been 874,000.