Western Pa. Republicans vote to impeach Mayorkas after opposing bipartisan border measure
WASHINGTON —A week after Republicans killed a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to tighten border security, the House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with help from Western Pennsylvania’s three GOP members — for his failure to secure the border.
The 214-213 vote, mostly along party lines, cited charges that outside observers said fell far below the “high-crimes and misdemeanors” required by the Constitution. The executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, Kyle Herrig, called it “a baseless political stunt.”
House Republicans insisted Mr. Mayorkas deserved impeachment because he failed to enforce border laws, paving the way for an unprecedented influx of migrants that former President Donald Trump and the GOP have blamed on President Joe Biden in the run-up to Election Day.
U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, both rejected the bipartisan Senate border security bill that would make it harder to claim asylum; increase funding for detention, removal and processing; give the president new powers to close the border, and include $20 billion to hire more border security agents and immigration officers. Their opposition to enacting stronger security measures came even as Mr. Reschenthaler called the influx of migrants “one of the worst crises in our nation’s history.” Mr. Reschenthaler claimed Mr. Mayorkas “consistently and blatantly defied the laws of the United States” and “greenlit an invasion at the southern border.” Illegal
immigrants, fentanyl and even terrorists had flooded into the U.S. “because of his dereliction of duty,” he said.
And Mr. Kelly said: “Over the last three years, Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to secure the border has turned every state into a border state.”
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Centre, did not publicize his position on the bipartisan border security bill before the impeachment vote.
In other Washington news:
No insurrection by Trump
Two of the Western Pennsylvania Republican congressmen who tried to overturn the state’s 2020 vote count are co-sponsoring a resolution declaring that Mr. Trump “did not engage in insurrection.”
Mr. Kelly and Mr. Reschenthaler are among the five dozen House Republicans who have signed onto legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Mr. Gaetz made the successful motion to oust California Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker last year.
The one-sentence resolution says: “It is the sense of the House of Representatives that former President Donald J. Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or give aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Mr. Trump was impeached on charges that he indicted the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in which the Capitol was overrun by his supporters trying to prevent Congress from ratifying the electoral votes making Joe Biden the next president. He was acquitted by the Senate.
Both Mr. Kelly and Mr. Reschehenthaler joined Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Gaetz, current Speaker Mike Johnson, of Louisiana, and a majority of the House Republican conference in asking the U.S.
Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 Pennsylvania election results based on unproven claims of voter fraud.
After the Capitol was cleared of pro-Trump rioters, they voted to reject Pennsylvania’s certified electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden.
Fetterman seeks assistance
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has been a strong supporter of Israel’s right to strike back at Hamas after the U.S.-designated terrorist group broke a cease-fire on Oct. 7, 2023, and attacked the Jewish state, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
But he joined 15 of his fellow Senate Democrats in urging the Biden administration to assist the relatives of American citizens who are stuck in Gaza.
In a letter to Mr. Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, they asked that relatives who are not immediate family members be allowed to leave the Hamas-run territory for the U.S., and to speed up the review of applications to do so.
They said the groups of those currently eligible “are too narrow and restrict our ability to secure the safe departure of U.S. citizen family members, including their brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews, who are caught in the crossfire of this conflict.”
They added: “As a result of the dangerous circumstances on the ground, we urge you to quickly implement these changes in policy to help U.S. citizens and their family members get out of harm’s way.”