Rep. Troy E. Nehls Votes ‘YES’ to Impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) released the following statement after voting to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas:

“The Framers of our Constitution restricted impeachment to treason, bribery, and other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” said Congressman Nehls. “This standard applied to behavior found damaging to the state, including significant abuses of a government office or power, neglect of duty, and betrayals of the trust of the American people, among other things.

The Framers considered impeachment to be an essential tool to hold government officers accountable for political crimes, or offenses against the state. The articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas provide that he has willfully and systematically refused to comply with immigration laws enacted by Congress and has breached the public trust by knowingly making false statements to Congress and the American people andobstructing Congressional oversight of his department.

Our nation’s immigration laws require aliens to be detained for a removal proceeding. Instead of complying with this requirement, Secretary Mayorkas implemented a catch and release scheme, allowing illegal aliens to be dispersed all over our country, wreaking havoc and destroying communities, while they awaited their immigration court date. Immigration law also requires that an illegal alien who is inadmissible or deportable on certain criminal and terrorism-related grounds should be taken into custody when the alien is released from law enforcement. Instead of doing this, Secretary Mayorkas issued guidance that the conviction alone could not be used for the basis of removal. This is not only disgraceful, it is grounds for impeachment.

His blatant refusal to enforce our nation’s immigration laws has allowed over 8.3 million illegal aliens to cross our borders, and 1.7 million known gotaways to evade Border Patrol Agents. God only knows who these people are, where they are, and what they are doing on U.S. soil.”