Biden administration hits back at Republican attempts to kill compromise legislation intended to curb migrant arrivals at the southern border
Michael Chertoff, who served as homeland security secretary during Republican George W Bush’s presidency from 2005 to 2009, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal opposing the impeachment of the job’s current occupant Alejandro Mayorkas.
Republicans in Congress have for months accused Mayorkas of breaching his duty because so many migrants are entering the United States from Mexico, and the GOP-led House homeland security committee is expected to tomorrow vote to adopt the charges against him. But only one other cabinet secretary in US history has ever been impeached, and the Democratic-controlled Senate is unlikely to remove him from office.
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.
This is why Republicans aren’t seeking to hold Mr. Mayorkas to the Constitution’s “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard for impeachment. They make the unsupported argument that he is derelict in his duty.
Biden has vowed a response to an attack in Jordan that killed three US service members, which it blamed on Iran-supported militias. Follow our live blog for the latest on the crisis.
Kamala Harris continues her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour today with a conversation with actor Sophia Bush, as the Biden administration looks to promote abortion access.
We’ll hear more about both the border and the attack in Jordan at 1.30pm eastern time, when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and national security council spokesman John Kirby brief the press.