House Republicans on Tuesday won a bid to fire Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who have been investigating his handling of the border since regaining the House majority in 2022.
The momentum to plan swift impeachment against Mayorkas picked up steam last month as key swing-district Republicans expressed openness to the idea amid a recent uptick in migrant crossings along the southern border.
Border officials encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in December, the highest monthly total on record since 2000, according to Homeland Security figures shared with CNN. In fiscal year 2022, 1.4 million people encountered at the border were removed, up from the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The border crisis has galvanized Republicans, rallying their party for more aggressive action on an issue central to the 2024 campaign, and a handful of eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to block an attempt to impeach Mayorkas in November 2023 recently announced they would withdraw. His impeachment came through a committee process late last month.
Moderate Republicans, including those in districts carried by President Joe Biden in 2020, have signaled a greater willingness to impeach the mayor than the president — a sign that the political landscape on the issue is shifting.
While House Republicans have used Mayorkas' accusations to try to address their issues with Biden's handling of the border, the GOP has also joined forces with Donald Trump to help block a major bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package. The immigration legislation was sponsored by one of the Senate's most conservative members. House Speaker Mike Johnson said even if the bill clears the Senate, it will die in his chamber.
Mayorgas wrote in a letter ahead of the vote that “the problems with our broken and outdated immigration system are not new” and called on Congress to provide a legislative solution to a “historically divisive issue.”
CNN Melanie Sanona, Manu Raju And Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
