IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 470 

Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, 

for high crimes and misdemeanors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 6, 2023 

Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Impeaching Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary of 

Homeland Security, for high crimes and misdemeanors. 

1 Resolved, That Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Sec2 retary of Homeland Security, is impeached for high crimes 

3 and misdemeanors and that the following articles of im4 peachment be exhibited to the United States Senate: 

5 Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of 

6 Representatives of the United States of America in the 

7 name of itself and of the people of the United States of 

8 America, against Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Secretary 

9 of Homeland Security, in maintenance and support of its 


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1 impeachment against him for high crimes and mis2 demeanors. 

3 ARTICLE I

4 Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in his conduct as Sec5 retary of Homeland Security, has engaged in a pattern 

6 of conduct that directly violates his constitutional oath as 

7 an executive officer of the United States in the following 

8 manner: 

9 Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas was confirmed and 

10 sworn in as the Secretary of Homeland Security of the 

11 United States of America on February 2, 2021. Secretary 

12 Mayorkas took a solemn oath, as stated in section 3331 

13 of title 5, United States Code, to ‘‘support and defend the 

14 Constitution of the United States against all enemies, for15 eign and domestic’’ and to ‘‘well and faithfully discharge 

16 the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So 

17 help me God.’’ 

18 As the Secretary of Homeland Security, a cabinet19 level official established by the Homeland Security Act of 

20 2002 (Public Law 107–296), Secretary Mayorkas is vest21 ed with the duty to advise the President on decision mak22 ing critical to the safety and security of the United States. 

23 Secretary Mayorkas, with his 30-year career as a law en24 forcement official, is entrusted by the President to uphold 

25 the mission of the Department of Homeland Security as 

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1 ity, and efficacy of executive policy in service of such mis2 sion. 

3 Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution mandates 

4 that the Federal Government ‘‘shall guarantee to every 

5 State in this Union a Republican Form of Government 

6 and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on 

7 Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when 

8 the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Vio9 lence.’’ 

10 Further, section 2(b) of the Secure Fence Act of 

11 2006 (Public Law 109–367) legally obligates the Sec12 retary of Homeland Security ‘‘to maintain operational 

13 control over the entire international land and maritime 

14 borders of the United States.’’ Specifically, ‘‘operational 

15 control’’ is defined as ‘‘the prevention of all unlawful en16 tries into the United States, including entries by terror17 ists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, nar18 cotics, and other contraband.’’ This ‘‘operational control’’ 

19 standard codified the well-established, good-faith efforts of 

20 securing land and maritime borders to preserve the sov21 ereignty of the United States. 

22 Secretary Mayorkas is legally bound, by constitu23 tional duty and sworn oath, to protect the individual 

24 States of this Republic and the citizens therein from 

25 threats to our Nation’s homeland. He has failed, beyond 


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1 a reasonable doubt, to uphold this oath and to protect the 

2 American people as required by law. 

3 Specifically, Secretary Mayorkas has intentionally 

4 used his position as Secretary of Homeland Security to 

5 dismantle previously successful border security resources, 

6 enforcement, and policies forcing border and interior en7 forcement agents to deprioritize their primary law enforce8 ment mission. 

9 As a result, the integrity of our international land 

10 border with Mexico has been compromised, creating a 

11 clear and present danger to the American people. This in12 cludes, but is not limited to, the following examples: 

13 (1) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal 

14 position and resources to cease all additional con15 struction of border wall system, fencing, and other 

16 associated infrastructure and technology, which were 

17 not only authorized, but also funded, by the United 

18 States Congress. The result of the cessation of addi19 tional construction resulted in several negative con20 sequences. First, it prevented the completion of bor21 der wall fencing along portions of the United States22 Mexico border that were deemed to be most in need 

23 of fencing, thereby increasing the security 

24 vulnerabilities of the United States. Second, the un25 used, taxpayer-purchased materials that were inVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jun 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR470.IH HR470

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1 tended for border wall construction and associated 

2 infrastructure and technology were left unattended 

3 along portions of the United States-Mexico border, 

4 which not only left it vulnerable to theft or van5 dalism, but also increased the danger to Federal and 

6 non-Federal law enforcement along portions of that 

7 border by increasing the risks of dangerous encoun8 ters with the violent cartels overseeing the importa9 tion of illegal aliens. Third, it caused economic dam10 age via the termination of contracts with contractors 

11 and subcontractors who had been hired to construct 

12 the wall and associated infrastructure and tech13 nology. 

14 (2) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal 

15 position and resources to both terminate meaningful 

16 border security and immigration enforcement efforts 

17 and redirect the official time and resources of De18 partment of Homeland Security personnel who are 

19 responsible for border security and immigration en20 forcement to off-mission tasks. This includes direct21 ing the personnel of the United States Border Pa22 trol, which is a component of the U.S. Customs and 

23 Border Protection, to deprioritize patrolling the 

24 United States-Mexico border, while expanding 

25 United States Border Patrol resources to ‘‘process’’ 


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1 illegal aliens on United States soil. This also in2 cludes directing the personnel of Immigration and 

3 Customs Enforcement to cease engaging in statu4 torily mandated alien arrest and removal efforts, 

5 even under circumstances involving aliens who were 

6 identified as public safety risks. This also includes 

7 directing personnel of the Department of Homeland 

8 Security to cease and desist from collecting DNA 

9 samples from aliens who are apprehended at the 

10 United States-Mexico border, despite the fact that it 

11 is a key tool for identifying terrorists, criminal ac12 tors, and false family units. This also includes di13 recting personnel of the Department of Homeland 

14 Security to deactivate completed sensor and light in15 frastructure and technology that was embedded into 

16 previously constructed border wall along the United 

17 States-Mexico border, which has simultaneously re18 duced operational awareness of the border environ19 ment for both Federal and non-Federal law enforce20 ment, enhanced the risk of injury or death for Fed21 eral and non-Federal law enforcement, and facili22 tated further illegal immigration by making it easier 

23 for cartels and other criminal organizations to oper24 ate unnoticed in close proximity to the United 

25 States-Mexico border. 


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1 (3) Secretary Mayorkas has used his Federal 

2 position and resources to suspend an array of regu3 latory and guidance-based policies that had been 

4 promulgated and used during previous administra5 tions to both discourage the flow of illegal aliens into 

6 the United States and empower Federal immigration 

7 enforcement officials to prevent aliens from unlaw8 fully entering into the United States, especially 

9 along the United States-Mexico border. Effective 

10 policies that Secretary Mayorkas ordered suspended 

11 include— 

12 (A) the catch-and-release prohibition, 

13 which ended the practice of releasing unlawfully 

14 present aliens into the United States during the 

15 pendency of their immigration cases; 

16 (B) the implementation of the Remain in 

17 Mexico Policy (otherwise referred to as the Mi18 grant Protection Protocols), which required that 

19 non-Mexican nationals seeking asylum in the 

20 United States were required to wait in Mexico 

21 pending the adjudication of their asylum claims; 

22 (C) the use of statutory expedited removal, 

23 which allowed Federal officials to remove forth24 with any alien who is apprehended anywhere in 


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1 the United States within two years of his or her 

2 unlawful entry; 

3 (D) full implementation of public health 

4 emergency exclusion authority as authorized 

5 pursuant to section 362 of the Public Health 

6 Service 26 Act (42 U.S.C. 265), which allowed 

7 Federal officials to deny the entry of any aliens 

8 seeking entry at or between United States ports 

9 of entry during the COVID–19 pandemic; and 

10 (E) numerous other regulatory and guid11 ance changes to ensure the more rapid enforce12 ment of Federal immigration law. 

13 Secretary Mayorkas’ actions and inactions, in his ca14 pacity as an executive officer of the United States, have 

15 caused a loss of any sane or objective assessment of ‘‘oper16 ational control’’ of the United States-Mexico border, re17 sulting in the most significant border invasion in our Na18 tion’s history concerning persons and illicit drugs. 

19 According to 2020 reports, under the final year of 

20 the Trump administration, U.S. Customs and Border Pro21 tection encountered 400,651 aliens seeking to enter the 

22 southwest border of the United States. Of these apprehen23 sions, only 3 were individuals on the Terrorist Screening 

24 Database and 30,557 were unaccompanied alien children. 

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1 mately 136,000. Over 1,000,000 pounds of illegal drugs 

2 were stopped at the border during that timeframe. 

3 Since the start of the Biden administration and ap4 pointment of Secretary Mayorkas, encounters at the 

5 southwest border have swelled far beyond the enforcement 

6 and processing capacity of the U.S. Customs and Border 

7 Protection. This has been accompanied by increases in at8 tempted entries of terrorists and unlawful aliens, and a 

9 decrease in the interdiction of illegal drugs. 

10 According to the 2021 reports, during the transition 

11 from the Trump administration to the Biden administra12 tion, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 

13 1,734,686 aliens, seeking to enter the United States, rep14 resenting a 332 percent increase from the prior year. Over 

15 80 percent of this increase occurred under the Biden ad16 ministration. Of these apprehensions, 15 were individuals 

17 on the terrorist screening database and 144,837 were un18 accompanied alien children, an increase of 373 percent 

19 from just the year prior. The detected criminal runner 

20 ‘‘got aways’’ nearly tripled to approximately 389,000. The 

21 amount illegal drugs stopped at the border dropped by 

22 145,923 pounds to 913,326 pounds. 

23 According to the 2022 reports, during the first full 

24 year of Secretary Mayorkas’ command at the Department 

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1 tion encountered 2,378,944 aliens, representing a 37 per2 cent increase from the prior year and over 493 percent 

3 increase compared to 2020. Of these apprehensions, 98 

4 individuals were on the terrorist screening database, and 

5 149,093 were unaccompanied alien children. In this time 

6 period, the number of known criminal runner ‘‘gotaways’’ 

7 increased to 600,000, an increase of 54 percent from the 

8 previous year and a 341 percent increase from just two 

9 years prior. Meanwhile, illegal drugs stopped at the border 

10 dropped to 655,780 pounds, only 62 percent of the 

11 amount stopped in 2020. 

12 To date, under the Biden administration and Sec13 retary Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

14 has encountered over 5,200,000 aliens at the southwest 

15 border. Additionally, there have been over 1,500,000 

16 known criminal runner ‘‘gotaways’’, aliens who have inten17 tionally evaded law enforcement and entered the United 

18 States illegally. These numbers reflect the continual dis19 integration of any reasonable measure of ‘‘operational con20 trol’’ under the direction of Secretary Mayorkas. 

21 Secretary Mayorkas has undermined the law enforce22 ment capacity of the Department of Homeland Security. 

23 Frontline agents have been pulled from their law enforce24 ment responsibilities and into ‘‘processing’’ roles, turning 

25 Federal law enforcement into facilitators of illegality and 


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1 leaving significant gaps in our security infrastructure 

2 along the United States-Mexico border. 

3 As a result, the number of criminal runner 

4 ‘‘gotaways’’ has steadily risen, enabling criminals to enter 

5 the country undeterred. According to law enforcement 

6 sources, these aliens have criminal intent and are the most 

7 likely to be involved with the human, sex, and drug traf8 ficking activities of transnational criminal organizations. 

9 These aliens then disappear into the interior of the United 

10 States and plug into existing criminal networks. 

11 Secretary Mayorkas, in his conduct as an executive 

12 officer of the United States and the policies enacted under 

13 his direction, has so deprioritized border enforcement that 

14 he has ceded control of large portions of the United 

15 States-Mexico border to dangerous Mexican cartels. Along 

16 some segments of the United States-Mexico border, cartels 

17 have even established a presence on the United States side 

18 of the border and, in some cases, on Federal property. 

19 This has allowed the cartels to greatly increase their abil20 ity and capacity for human and drug smuggling. 

21 Secretary Mayorkas has overseen a stunning increase 

22 in the flow of illicit drugs into the United States from 

23 Mexico and elsewhere around the globe, including the Peo24 ple’s Republic of China. Under Secretary Mayorkas’ ten25 ure, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized 


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1 enough illicitly manufactured fentanyl to kill over 

2 3,300,000,000 Americans, nearly 10 times the population 

3 of the United States. Law enforcement officers have ac4 knowledged that only a fraction of illicit controlled dan5 gerous substance drugs are intercepted at the border, and 

6 a vast amount of the illicit fentanyl entering the United 

7 States is doing so between ports of entry. 

8 According to the Centers for Disease Control and 

9 Prevention, illicitly manufactured fentanyl caused the 

10 deaths of 110,236 Americans in 2022. It has become a 

11 leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 18 

12 and 45. Most illicitly manufactured fentanyl found in the 

13 United States is being manufactured with raw chemical 

14 precursors from the People’s Republic of China, trafficked 

15 through Mexico, and funneled into the United States be16 tween ports of entry along the United States-Mexico bor17 der. 

18 For over two years, Secretary Mayorkas has failed 

19 to take corrective measures necessary to restore a profes20 sional standard of ‘‘operational control’’ over the south21 west border of the United States. Far from achieving this 

22 mission, Secretary Mayorkas has diminished the integrity 

23 of our border, allowing dangerous cartels to operate 

24 human and drug trafficking operations, and the result has 


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1 been illegality, injury, and death for untold thousands at 

2 the border and on the interior of the United States. 

3 Secretary Mayorkas’ willful dereliction of his oath 

4 and constitutional obligation to protect the United States 

5 and their citizenry from the invasion of illegal aliens and 

6 illegal drugs, including illicit fentanyl, warrants his re7 moval from the Office of Secretary of Homeland Security. 

8 Wherefore Secretary Mayorkas, by such conduct, 

9 thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, 

10 and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 

11 trust, or profit under the United States. 

12 ARTICLE II

13 Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, in his conduct while 

14 Secretary of Homeland Security, engaged in a pattern of 

15 conduct that undermined the sovereignty of the United 

16 States as follows: 

17 Secretary Mayorkas’ ongoing violation of the Immi18 gration and Nationality Act demonstrates his blatant dis19 regard for upholding the laws of the sovereign United 

20 States. Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Na21 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)(A)) grants the Sec22 retary of Homeland Security the authority to parole aliens 

23 on a ‘‘case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons’’ 

24 or ‘‘significant public benefit, provided that the aliens 

25 present neither a security risk nor a risk of absconding’’. 


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1 In direct violation of the intent and spirit of the law, 

2 Secretary Mayorkas has overseen the abuse of parole au3 thority under such section 212(d)(5)(A). At the direction 

4 of Secretary Mayorkas, U.S. Customs and Border Protec5 tion has unlawfully used this authority to triage over6 crowded processing facilities, releasing aliens into the inte7 rior of the United States without proper detention and vet8 ting. 

9 According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection 

10 data, parole authority under such section 212(d)(5)(A) 

11 was used 268,268 times between October 2021 and No12 vember 2022, at the international land border with Mex13 ico. This form of ‘‘administrative catch-and-release’’ has 

14 been carried out under the direct command of Secretary 

15 Mayorkas. Any law enforcement professional would know 

16 that massive abuses of parole authority are a clear threat 

17 to the safety and security of the American people. Aliens 

18 are being released without proper screening, enabling 

19 them to disappear into the United States with little hope 

20 that they will appear for immigration court proceedings. 

21 Secretary Mayorkas’ broad application of parole authority 

22 clearly violates the ‘‘case-by-case’’ standard outlined in 

23 such section 212(d)(5)(A). 

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1 tionality Act. He has unlawfully abused his authorities and 

2 has willingly and maliciously released record numbers of 

3 illegal aliens into the United States, violating Federal law, 

4 undermining the sovereignty of the United States, and 

5 jeopardizing the security of the American citizenry. 

6 Wherefore, Secretary Mayorkas, by such conduct, 

7 thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, 

8 and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 

9 trust, or profit under the United States. 

Æ 


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