At a hearing held last week by the House Committee on Homeland Security that could precede an impeachment effort targeting Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas or other figures on Biden’s team, ranking member Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) dismantled Republican conspiracy theories about what has recently been seen at the southern border.
In short, Republicans have consistently claimed an existentially threatening crisis has been taking shape. From contentions of a so-called invasion to the false claim in recently filed articles of impeachment against Biden that foreign criminal organizations have taken control of the country’s southern border, the GOP approach has been extreme and consistent.
“This entire endeavor is nothing more than a political stunt,” Thompson argued of Republicans’ persistence. “Meanwhile, the Republican majority is squandering the Homeland Security Committee’s time and opportunity to deal with real work of our committee. In the seven months since we took our oath for the 118th Congress, the Republican majority has proven itself to be uninterested in legislating and incapable of serious oversight.”
Thompson also repeated a factoid to which Democratic members have returned in the past, namely, that border crossings have — as measured between ports of entry to the United States — dropped in the time since the Title 42 restrictions on the southern border became inactive. Thompson also referenced several operations from the federal government that have targeted the distribution of the dangerous drug fentanyl into the United States, besides also noting that federal immigration authorities have continued to send some migrants out of the country, in contrast to Republican claims of what is essentially a free-for-all at the southern border.
“President Biden’s and Secretary Mayorkas’s leadership and hard work has paid off,” the Congressman argued. “Our borders are not open, and those arriving outside lawful pathways are being sent home. The facts do not support the Republicans’ case. You don’t impeach the president or a Cabinet secretary because you do not like their policies.”
No matter any pomp and circumstance, it is highly unlikely that any impeachment produced by the House would mean much of anything substantive for its target, considering Democrats hold the majority in the closely divided Senate.
Watch the hearing below:
