Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday sidelined her impeachment resolution against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying she has assurances from GOP leaders that the House will take up the matter through the normal process.
Her article of impeachment had been slated for a vote Thursday but was pulled from the House floor schedule.
Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, later told reporters she had a “guarantee” from Speaker Mike Johnson that the Homeland Security Committee will act.
Ms. Greene says Mr. Mayorkas has broken the law with his handling of the border, allowing an “invasion” of the country and failing to follow laws governing arrest and detention of illegal immigrants.
Homeland Security has dismissed her resolution as “baseless,” and Democrats have said she is targeting the secretary over policy differences, not the “high crimes” or “misdemeanors” required for impeachment under the Constitution.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, said the apparent deal between Ms. Greene and GOP leaders exposed the impeachment push “as the political stunt that it is.”
“Instead of their constant chaos and political games, House Republicans should be working with congressional Democrats and the Biden administration to fix our broken immigration system and provide DHS the resources it needs along the border now,” Mr. Thompson said.
Ms. Greene forced a first impeachment vote on Mr. Mayorkas earlier in November. It failed when eight Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing it.
Some of those Republicans said Ms. Greene was jumping the gun by rushing a resolution to the floor rather than going through the usual impeachment inquiry process.
The new arrangement could win over some of those holdouts.
Impeachment requires only a majority vote in the House, but conviction and removal would take a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
No sitting Cabinet secretary has ever been impeached, though one was impeached after he left office. He was acquitted by the Senate.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.