House Republicans are poised to impeach Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over border security, but a congressional reporter said the move was clearly a "political stunt" to distract from their own legislative inaction.
GOP lawmakers say Mayorkas has “refused to comply” with immigration laws that resulted in a flood of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, and Washington Post reporter Jackie Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that they appear to have the votes to make him the first sitting Cabinet secretary to be impeached.
"There were a few undecided votes up in the air, but last night, we caught a number of the members, people like congressman Dan Newhouse, who had yet to make a decision, told us last night that he had listened to the hearings, read some of the transcripts over the weekend, and decided he was going to vote for impeaching Mayorkas," Alemany said. "There were a few other undecided people like [Rep.] David Joyce. He also has been reticent in the past to buck party lines. The numbers don't work out for Democrats unless there are unexpected absences. We anticipate this will make it through the House. This is viewed as an easy no-brainer accountability measure, even by vulnerable Republicans who are sitting in those purple Biden districts, who are up for re-election, who are all in support of this and holding Mayorkas accountable."
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At the same time, Senate Republicans appear unlikely to pass a bipartisan border security measure that stands little chance of clearing the House, and Alemany said the impeachment vote was smokescreen.
"It has become a rallying cry," she said. "At the end of the day, especially on a day like today, it's become a distraction measure away from their opposition against a border bill to make it look like Republicans are at least in the House and up to something. But we should be very clear about this: This is completely a political stunt. There is very little support for this in the Senate, it'll likely die in the Senate. After today, I think it's going to continue to be panned by traditionally GOP validators, people like the Wall Street Journal opinion pages, who have already come out against the impeachment of Mayorkas."
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