Throughout the Biden administration, there has been intense scrutiny over the President’s policies with regard to border security. Since Joe Biden took office, there have been a record number of migrants attempting to cross the southern border. With millions of migrants traveling to the country each year, many Americans have disapproved of Joe Biden’s handling of immigration. Republicans in the House of Representatives attempted to capitalize on this disapproval by impeaching the Biden-appointed Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. On the surface, an impeachment may seem like an effective tool to put pressure on officials for incompetence. But this impeachment is a public charade meant to detract Congress from implementing common-sense border provisions.
The attempt to remove Mayorkas from his position before the end of the Biden administration is essentially impossible. In the second effort to impeach him, an extremely narrow majority of the representatives voted in affirmation. Even though Republicans aren’t accusing Mayorkas of committing a single crime, 214 of the 217 voted yes, while all 210 Democrats voted against the impeachment. This partisan impeachment has no chance of going anywhere in the Senate. A conviction requires a two-thirds majority among senators; currently, the Democrats control the Senate chamber, and there has been no indication that a single Democratic Senator supports convicting Mayorkas.
The purpose of this impeachment is to deflect blame from the Republican party’s unwillingness to cooperate on border security and immigration reforms in Congress. Recently, the Senate introduced legislation that provided billions in funding to border security along with aid to Israel and Ukraine. But Donald Trump was firmly against Republicans finding a border compromise during the Biden administration and exclaimed via Truth Social, “A BAD BORDER DEAL IS FAR WORSE THAN NO BORDER DEAL!” After Trump’s remarks, Republicans ran away from a border compromise while continuing to place the blame for the immigration crisis on Democrats. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson explained via X that “[i]f this bill reaches the House, it will be dead on arrival,” while simultaneously claiming that the “Biden Administration has failed America by failing to secure our border.”
Republicans did not oppose the border deal because of the aid it would give to other countries in conflict. They opposed the bill because a bipartisan deal could give the Biden administration political points helpful towards his reelection campaign. In the House, Republicans attempted to ram through $17.6 billion in aid towards Israel’s ongoing invasion of Gaza. More than 200 Republicans were in favor of more unconditional aid to Israel’s military, while 166 Democrats voted against it. In the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans passed a foreign aid bill that would give $60 billion to Ukraine, $14 billion to Israel, and $10 billion to humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones. Republican politicians by in large approve of the United States investments in conflicts abroad. But it is in the omnibus border deal where they claim to be against spending overseas.
If Republicans are truthful in their grievances about the amount of international spending, the United States does. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives should write a counter-border deal offer that does not include foreign aid. Passing a bill through the House and placed on the Democrat-controlled Senate would make Republican claims of their concern for border security more legitimate.
Since the border deal was struck down because of Republicans, the party needed a plan to pretend that immigration security is their top priority over winning electoral control. This is why the House placed a resolution to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas. Even though President Biden has deported more illegal immigrants than Trump, Republicans need the current administration as a foil for the record levels of illegal crossings. The impeachment attempt to remove Mayorkas sets a facade that Republican politicians are genuinely trying to solve the border crisis. In reality, congressional Republicans hope to create more chaos until a Republican is in control of the White House.
