Rep. Kevin McCarthy, now the Speaker of the House after 15 votes for the position, pledged in November of 2022 during a visit to El Paso, Texas that the Biden Administration would face impeachment consequences for its role in the border crisis, saying:
“If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure to determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiries.”
Well, now Rep. McCarthy is the Speaker of the House, so he has the power to begin those impeachment inquiries, and the pressure campaign from the more far-right, actually conservative members of the House could mean that he will stick to his word and do so. That’s particularly true of an investigation of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, as the border disaster is one of the top issues the GOP base cares about.
Mayorkas, however, did his best to not appear fazed, much less worried, during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week”. When Stephanopoulos quoted McCarthy’s investigation and impeachment threat, Mayorkas responded by saying that he won’t resign and has lots of work to do, saying:
“I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m proud to do it alongside 250,000 incredibly dedicated and talented individuals in the Department of Homeland Security, and I’m going to continue to do my work.”
He went on to add that he is ready for the likely investigations coming from the House GOP and reiterated that he has no plans to resign.
He did, however, agree that the immigration system is broken, telling Stephanopoulos “We are dealing within a broken immigration system that Congress has failed to repair for decades. And there is unanimity with respect to that reality.”
Further, when asked what he and Biden plan to accomplish at El Paso during their border visit, Mayorkas said:
I have been to El Paso as recently as just a few weeks ago. I’ve been there quite a number of times. I’ve spoken with the president. He has requested my visits to the border. I have gone on my own, of course.
And I want him to see the extraordinary work of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol, of Customs and Border Protection’s field operations, how we have surged resources to address a challenge that is not unique to the southern border of the United States. It’s a challenge that is really gripping our entire hemisphere.
You know, George, I was in Columbia just a few weeks ago, the country of Columbia. And there are 2.4 million Venezuelans in Columbia now. I was in Costa Rica a few months ago, and Costa Rica’s population is increasing in the number of Nicaraguans. I was in Ecuador a few weeks ago and they too are really experiencing unprecedented migration challenges.
This is something that is not unique to the United States. It’s gripping the hemisphere. And a regional challenge requires a regional solution. And that’s one of the elements of the North American Leader’s Summit that we look forward to addressing.
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