Since Tuesday's House vote, Mayorkas has been preparing for a trip to Germany for the Munich Security Conference. He is scheduled to give a keynote speech on Friday, participate in several panel discussions over the weekend, and hold a series of bilateral meetings on a variety of national security issues. He is scheduled to travel to Vienna, Austria, on Sunday to meet with China's State Councilor and Minister of Public Health to discuss the country's efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl. Mayorkas has not yet responded to questions about the success of the vote.
Administration officials have not backed down from the impeachment fight. President Joe Biden denounced impeachment as a “petty partisan game.” And his aides are keeping a close eye on it, often elevating Republican lawmakers who question the merits of impeachment.
But the administration is also relying on outside allies to poke holes in the Republican case against Mr. Mayorkas and echo the message coming from Pennsylvania Avenue. They believe Mayorkas' impeachment and his public indifference to it will only serve to further the narrative inherited from the bipartisan Senate border deal fight. The idea is that Republicans are less enthusiastic about solving the border crisis than perpetuating it as a political bludgeon.
“House Republicans will be remembered in history for trampling on the Constitution for political gain rather than working to solve serious challenges at the border. While the group was helping develop bipartisan solutions to strengthen border security and ensure necessary resources for enforcement, House Republicans spent months on baseless and unconstitutional impeachments. It’s a waste,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said following Tuesday’s impeachment vote. .
This approach comes with risks. The White House has been debating immigration and migration issues behind the scenes virtually since the moment Biden took office. And while no one expects Mayorkas' Senate trial to end in conviction, it is an opportunity for Senate Republicans to shine a bright spotlight on the Biden administration's inability to stem the flow of migrants. Dew. Mr. Mayorkas' tenure will come under a new kind of scrutiny.
But Democrats and Biden supporters believe the political tide is changing. They blame Tom Suozzi's victory in New York, where Democrats are leaning on immigration and on the offensive against Republicans, as a sign that a new messaging strategy around Republican apathy on the issue is already at work. I see this as further evidence. They believe Mr. Mayorkas' impeachment could be used in the same way.
Alex Floyd, the Democratic National Committee's rapid response director, noted the Democratic victory in the New York special election and said, “A chaotic meeting of House Republicans is calling for real solutions to improve border security. “Voters are paying attention to the fact that President Trump's political aspirations are taking precedence over the president's political aspirations.” “Trump and his MAGA minions can take a break from the clown show, but they will pay the price this November for putting Trump first and the American people last.”
For a White House that has repeatedly struggled to strike a consistent message on immigration, the administration has launched powerful attacks on House Republicans in recent weeks. As the court soon moves to an impeachment trial, the White House is largely content with back channels with outside allies joining the fight.
The Congressional Integrity Project has been leading this effort externally. The group was launched in late 2022, before Republicans took control of the House, with the aim of countering the investigative offensive against the Biden administration. The organization has closely tracked Mr. Mayorkas' targets and has stepped up elements of its operations as impeachment became more likely.
Over the past six weeks, the Congressional Integrity Project has worked closely with advocates in the immigration policy field to defend Mr. Mayorkas and connect the Republican effort with conservative conservatives like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor. It has been portrayed as a “disgraceful” and baseless partisan act. Greene and Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona.
The groups, including America's Voice and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, are communicating through shared chats coordinating strategy, said Douglas Rivlin, America's Voice communications director. They have urged various constituencies to speak out against the impeachment effort, which they claim is “unconstitutional.”
These include not only Cuban-American leaders, but also former defense secretaries like Michael Chertoff and conservative jurists like Lawrence Tlaib and former President Donald Trump's impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitz. This has led to increasing criticism from others.
The House Homeland Security Committee, which introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, did not respond to requests for comment. On the day of the vote, the chairman mark green (R-Tennessee) called on the Senate to remove Mayorkas from office, saying the House had taken “decisive action to protect our nation's constitutional order and hold accountable public officials who violate their oaths of office.”
Some of the most aggressive blowback amplified by these groups came from Jewish leaders who argued that the impeachment of Mr. Mayorkas, who is also Jewish, had anti-Semitic overtones. there were. Leaders blame “extreme” members of the Republican caucus for using “anti-immigrant, conspiracy-driven” rhetoric and say gunmen in El Paso, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., are “replenishing” or “Invasion.”
Rivlin said the timing of the Republican impeachment amid the collapse of the border agreement makes it difficult for groups, including immigrant advocates who have often clashed with the Biden administration over border policy, to unite behind a common message. He said it was easy.
“There are a lot of policies that Mr. Biden and Mr. Mayorkas have worked on that we don't like,” Rivlin said. “But at the same time, Republicans were showing so many cards that demonstrate the points we've been making about them: They're not interested in making policy. They're interested in dividing people. It is.”
