If governing amid the chaos of migrants crossing the Southern border is an impeachable offense (it’s not), then it’s members of Congress, mostly Republicans, who deserve condemnation — not a Cabinet secretary.
They, along with since-departed lawmakers of recent decades, are the ones responsible for our dysfunctional immigration system: Congress has consistently failed to provide immigration officials with enough funding and legal power to stem, vet and process in an orderly way the increasing number of people yearning for opportunity in the U.S. The border problem is not new, it’s just worse than ever.
But instead of taking some responsibility and addressing the problem, House Republicans are flaying a scapegoat — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas — for their own election-year advantage and that of their lord and master, likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The full House is expected to vote next week on the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas the Homeland Security Committee approved along party lines late Tuesday.
If enough so-called moderate Republicans go along, the resolution would go to the Democratic-controlled Senate, which will no doubt acquit Mayorkas because the charges of dereliction of duty are bogus.
The politics are stupid — why focus on Mayorkas rather than his boss? Here’s why: because they don’t have the goods or the votes to impeach President Biden. South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman said the quiet part out loud when he explained in November that his fellow Republicans “need to focus on what they can get — Mayorkas is easier than impeaching the president of the United States.”