House GOP considers expanding Biden impeachment probe to cover border after Mayorkas impeachment

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas became the first sitting cabinet secretary in more than 150 years to be impeached after the GOP-led House passed an impeachment resolution against him on Tuesday night and some Republican lawmakers are calling for an expansion of the impeachment case against President Biden to cover the border.

The impeachment resolution contains two articles of impeachment related to a "breach of trust" and a "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” over Mayorkas’ handling of border security and illegal immigration.

To support their criticism of Mayorkas’ job performance, Republicans have pointed to data showing that the Biden administration has released about 2.3 million illegal immigrants encountered at the border since 2021. The data was included in a report released in January 2024.  

Last week, the first vote on the resolution took place after nearly 3 hours of debate on the House floor but it failed to pass 216-214. 

Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, had changed his vote from yes to no so the resolution would be able to be reconsidered. 

The resolution passed in a second vote on Tuesday night 214-213. The chances of a formal Senate trial taking place is unclear at this time given that Democrats control the chamber.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has already appointed impeachment managers including House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, and Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va.

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., chairman of the Republican Study Committee and a U.S. Senate candidate, called for expanding the impeachment inquiry against President Biden to cover the border crisis.

House Republicans opened the impeachment inquiry over Biden’s potential involvement with his family members’ foreign business dealings, including his son Hunter and brother James.

“I hope we'll impeach Secretary Mayorkas tonight, but the buck stops with Joe Biden,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said on the John Solomon Reports podcast on Tuesday. "All of the reasons that you're impeaching Secretary Mayorkas are doubly important to impeaching Joe Biden."

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, agreed with Banks.

“I think that's certainly something that should be considered, look, this has just spiraled out of control,” he said.

Cline, one of the impeachment managers, also said the impeachment probe against Biden should be expanded.

“The buck stops with Joe Biden and all of the reasons that you're impeaching Secretary Mayorkas are doubly important to impeach Joe Biden: the border, the corruption, what this president has done,” he said.

Dawn Buckingham, the current Texas Land Commissioner, told Just the News ahead of the vote that she supports impeaching Mayorkas.

“I hope they impeach him. You know, I was asked by a by a journalist yesterday, if I ever had imagined that we would be where we are with regard to our border,” she said on Tuesday.

“And I just cannot believe that we have a president and his cabinet who have completely debased from the founding principles of our country, they have refused to abide by any of the rule of law. I mean, they have basically put our Constitution in the trash can and they are sacrificing the safety, the economic viability, and the future of our country in doing so,” she also said.

Buckingham said border communities are frustrated with Mayorkas’ handling of the border.

“Texans are furious at the hypocrisy. Even the Democrats in Texas, a lot of them are furious at the hypocrisy. You know, we had a big roundtable yesterday with property owners and a lot of local officials from up and down the border. Of course, the vast majority of them are Democrats, and they all voiced their deep frustration with the policies,” she said. “They feel like the Biden administration has abandoned their communities, hurting them economically.”

The last time Congress faced such a momentous vote was 1876, when the House voted to impeach then-Secretary of War William Belknap. Belknap had rushed to the White House and submitted his resignation to then-President Ulysses Grant.

Despite his resignation, later that day, members voted unanimously to send the Senate five articles of impeachment, charging Belknap with “criminally disregarding his duty as Secretary of War and basely prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain.”