Washington, DC — On Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold another hearing in their effort to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House Majority is proceeding without evidence of high crimes, with many observers decrying the sham impeachment effort as driven by politics and failing as a matter of constitutional law.
Yet as America’s Voice has noted, many of the most prominent voices calling for the Mayorkas impeachment are helping to elevate “replacement” and “invasion” conspiracy rhetoric, despite the connections to deadly real-world violence and roots in the antisemitic white nationalist movement. These deadly conspiracies also provide fodder for election deniers falsely painting migrants as the force to pollute would-be fair elections, undermining faith in our democracy. In advance of tomorrow’s Mayorkas impeachment hearing, below are three key points:
- Point 1: Mainstreaming white nationalist conspiracies “fuels the threat landscape we encounter” – Sec. Mayorkas: During past Capitol Hill testimony, Secretary Mayorkas has repeatedly warned about domestic terrorism that could be inspired by great replacement and “invasion” language, with real world instances of deadly violence already seen in places like El Paso, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh.
For example, during a congressional hearing last July, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) asked Sec. Mayorkas: “When elected officials repeat great replacement rhetoric, including the language of invasion, are they putting a target on the backs of immigrants and people of color?” Secretary Mayorkas responded, “It certainly fuels the threat landscape we encounter.”
- Point 2: GOP invites Sheriff who has amplified white nationalist conspiracies: Among the invited hearing witnesses include Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise Co., AZ. On multiple occasions, Sheriff Dannels has amplified white nationalist conspiracy theories, including asserting there is an “invasion” at the southern border and appearing on Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) podcast, where they agreed that the Biden administration was “intentionally” manufacturing the situation at the southern border. As the Washington Post’s Philip Bump recently highlighted, regarding House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) similar claim that Secretary Mayorkas “is intentionally encouraging more immigration,” this “intentional” language “is an argument made by adherents of the ‘great replacement’ theory, the conspiratorial idea that immigrants are being lured to the United States with the intent to reshape politics and culture.”
- Point 3: In total, at least 33 Republican members of Congress from the 118th Congress have used language associated with the great replacement theory to call for Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment (and at least 60 times on public platforms, per detailed America’s Voice tracking and research available HERE).
The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The House Majority’s impeachment effort is an active threat to the nation’s public safety and democracy. Yes, these impeachment hearings are a sham without evidence but they are also extremely dangerous political stunts. The GOP Majority is using their power to vociferously normalize and amplify conspiracy theories steeped in white nationalism and antisemitism that have inspired multiple deadly acts of terrorism. These are the terrible facts at the heart of this effort.
If they were truly interested in public safety and confronting threats to ‘homeland security,’ these elected officials would be working to lower the temperature and to advance common sense solutions on immigration. They are not. Rather, they are pursuing a relentless political message that actively stokes a climate of fear, division, and danger.”
