America’s Voice is among nearly two dozen Latino-led organizations to sign a letter opposing the baseless impeachment effort against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Not only have Republicans presented zero evidence of wrongdoing as required by the Constitution, they are platforming deadly conspiracy theories as part of their “politically driven efforts to remove one of the highest-ranking Latinos in government,” the letter states.
“The impeachment process driven by House Republicans is a sham,” the groups write in the letter addressed to House and Senate leadership. “While we appreciate that some members of Congress may disagree with the Biden Administration on immigration policy and how Secretary Mayorkas fulfills his related duties, such policy disagreements are not a legitimate basis to accuse the Secretary of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ which is the Constitutional basis for impeachment.”
That’s backed up by plenty of legal experts, leading voices, and former GOP officials, including a previous DHS chief. “As homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush—and as a former federal judge, U.S. attorney and assistant attorney general—I can say with confidence that, for all the investigating that the House Committee on Homeland Security has done, they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar,” Michael Chertoff wrote in an op-ed at The Wall Street Journal.
Rafael Bernal at The Hill reported on the letter, saying the “organizations called on Congress to redirect its efforts toward a true immigration reform package.”
“If Members of Congress were serious about reforming our broken immigration system and securing the border, they would be working across the aisle toward bipartisan solutions,” organizations said in the letter. But indicted former President Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans have made clear they prefer immigration and the border as a political issue to run on during a presidential election year rather than an issue to be resolved.
“Secondly, it is not lost on us that these impeachment hearings have become a platform for Members of Congress to vociferously amplify extremely hateful language and messages around ‘invasion’ and ‘great replacement’ theory,” the letter states. These violent conspiracy theories, endorsed by top GOP members of a House committee pushing forward this bogus impeachment effort, have painted Jewish people and non-white migrants as threats, and have been tied to numerous bigoted terror attacks.
It shouldn’t be lost that Republicans are teeing up a House floor vote based on antisemitic tropes to impeach an official whose family fled the Holocaust, and eventually came to the U.S. as refugees from Cuba. The Latino-led organizations said they “object to the House GOP scapegoating and attacking the first Latino and the first immigrant Secretary of Homeland Security and one of the few high-ranking Hispanic members of the cabinet.”
“While we, too, have serious concerns about the challenges at our southern border and our immigration system as a whole,” the groups say, “this does not warrant unfair and politically driven efforts to remove one of the highest-ranking Latinos in government, a member of the President’s Cabinet, and a longtime public servant who works to fulfill his oath of office in an exceedingly complex and polarized environment.”
Bernal, in his article for the Hill noted:
Hispanic and immigrant advocacy groups have been among the most strident critics of the Biden administration’s immigration and border security policies, a majority of which have been implemented by Mayorkas and his Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Yet Mayorkas as an individual holds a special place in the Latino political world: The Cuban-born son of a Romanian mother who fled the Holocaust, his double refugee status has endeared him to a community that values immigrant grit.
And while the policies implemented by Mayorkas have often riled Latino leaders, his calm and collected personal demeanor has maintained his credibility even as allies have turned into occasional foes.
Read the letter in its entirety here. Anyone who watched yesterday’s hearing in the House Homeland Security Committee saw first-hand what a sham this GOP impeachment is and how spot on the letter was. HuffPost’s headline captured what unfolded, “Eager To Please Trump, House GOP Advances Baseless Impeachment of DHS Secretary”. And, Rep, Diana Titus (D-NV) said it best, “Just shoveling the same old shit and calling it sugar.”
