In the wee hours of this morning, the House Homeland Security Committee voted to move forward with articles of impeachment against U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the committed objections of the two New Jerseyans who serve on the committee, Reps. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark) and Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City).
Republicans have argued, both in yesterday’s marathon hearing and over the last several years, that Mayorkas’s handling of the migrant influx at the southern border warrants impeachment. But Payne and Menendez, joined by all of their fellow Democrats on the committee, said that Mayorkas has committed no impeachable offense and accused Republicans of using impeachment as a political ploy.
“The accusations levied against Secretary Mayorkas in these articles amount to nothing more than policy disagreements,” Payne said. “Let’s work on policy! If there’s a problem, let’s give Secretary Mayorkas the tools that he needs! But you’re unwilling… This is nothing more than a political stunt on an issue that requires a serious policy solution.”
Late in the hearing, a visibly angry Menendez invoked the specter of Donald Trump, whose comeback presidential campaign has focused heavily on the southern border and who retains immense sway over the House Republican majority.
“We have a wide range of jurisdiction here, yet we have been singularly focused on the border, at the detriment [of anything else],” Menendez said. “We have not lived up to our oversight obligation here on this committee, because you are all obsessed with the border. Because you bend the knee to the orange Jesus.”
The committee ultimately advanced the articles of impeachment on an 18-15 party-line vote, and the articles are expected to be brought for a full House vote as early as next week. If they pass, Mayorkas would be the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) has already publicly called for Mayorkas’s impeachment; it’s less clear where Reps. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) or Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) stand, but it seems unlikely that they’d break from their caucus if most other Republicans vote yes when the articles come to the House floor. New Jersey’s Democrats, meanwhile, are near-certain to join Menendez and Payne in voting against impeachment and excoriating the whole process.
“We are here on a sham impeachment hearing because of the partisanship of this committee, and enough is enough,” Menendez said. “The American people are listening. They are. And they’re tired of the partisanship of this Republican majority that has failed to get things done.”