Thomas
Thomas
A modern American political mediazine

high crimes

 

Credit: Lemon tm

 

and misdemeanors ?

Opinion by Team Thomas

RED ALERT! NO VALID EVIDENCE WAS FOUND (IN THIS CASE) …

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached by the House of Representatives on a 219 to 213 vote for alleged policy failures at the U.S.-Mexico border – not the American constitutional standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. 

No high crimes and misdemeanors were found in this case, which is alarming for many reasons.  Congressional chaos continues to reign supreme in 2024.

Eleven GOP House impeachment managers have been named to argue the case against Secretary Mayorkas as the prosecution team in the upcoming Senate trial, assuming the Democrat-controlled Senate, with the help of three Independents caucusing with Senate Democrats, does not vote to dismiss the case.

Of the eleven impeachment managers, six voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election the same evening the United States Capitol was attacked by Trump “tourists” (pardon the sarcasm).  Those election deniers who were appointed impeachment managers by the House GOP leadership are:

  • Mark Green of Tennessee, the Homeland Security Committee chair

  • Andy Biggs of Arizona

  • Ben Cline of Virginia

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

  • Clay Higgins of Louisiana

  • August Pluger of Texas

Five of the eleven impeachment managers – less than half of the managers – did not vote on the bill to deny the election as President Trump insisted of his party members.  Those members are:

  • Michael Guest of Maryland

  • Andrew Garbarino of New York

  • Harriett Hageman of Wyoming

  • Laurel Lee of Florida

  • Michael McCaul of Texas

Two of the five are first-term members of Congress elected in 2022 (Harriett Hageman and Laurel Lee) who were not then sitting members of the House and were therefore

Why election deniers, who have condoned the violent and deadly attack on our nation’s Capitol, would be able to serve on the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security in the first place smacks of contradiction, to put it kindly. 

Why Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has called January 6th convicted felons “hostages” and advocated for Texas to succeed from the Union, would offer the motion to impeach Secretary Mayorkas with her own dereliction of duty and insurrection allegations swirling about is beyond belief.

Secretary Mayorkas is the first sitting U.S. cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876.

 
 

While we have certainly been heartbroken and troubled by the lack of southern border security by the Biden Administration, it goes without saying that Republicans have offered no viable solutions themselves either and have killed the most recent credible attempt that was provided by a bipartisan group of Senators this year.  Candidate Trump did not want Incumbent Biden and Democrats to have a favorable campaign issue to run on in 2024.  In our opinion, that is an outrageous rationale for killing the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform effort.

Thomas invites you to read:

Immigration Reformed?

Republicans have unwisely used the impeachment process to address immigration policy disputes with the Biden Administration rather than for high crimes and misdemeanors, of which the Republicans offered no evidence.  A new precedent has now been set by Republicans in which either major party who will be in control of the House in future Congresses will no doubt be tempted to impeach others as a policy choice when future presidential administrations pursue policies that are not politically expedient for the other.

Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas will not stabilize control of the U.S.-Mexico border, nor will it address critical immigration policy disputes.

Homeland Security in America is unnecessarily compromised when people who know otherwise, as reinforced by more than five dozen state and federal courts (many of whom were led by Republican presidential appointees), choose to deny the election anyway.Political expediency is their priority – not our nation’s objective security.

Secretary Mayorkas will either be acquitted by the U.S. Senate, or they will dismiss his case.  All of this will have been a colossal waste of time for two houses of the U.S. Congress that need to get critical priorities – including comprehensive immigration reform – done.

American democracy has been undermined and obstructed yet again. It is time to reject anti-constitutional obstruction.  Get our heads out of the sand and do something productive for a change.