Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will lead a congressional delegation to the southern border on Thursday as the Republican-led House ramps up scrutiny of President Joe Biden for his handling of the influx of immigrants.
The trip to the border marks McCarthy’s first since he became speaker in January. Shortly after the midterm elections, he traveled to El Paso, Texas, where he called for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign.
BORDER PATROL SEEING SHARP RISE IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS COMING IN FROM CANADA
Four Republicans will accompany McCarthy to the Tucson Sector: Reps. Juan Ciscomani (AZ), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR), Jen Kiggans (VA), and Derrick Van Orden (WI). Each of the lawmakers is in their first term, and Ciscomani delivered the GOP’s Spanish rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union last week.
The trip will include a briefing from Border Patrol and an aerial tour.
Republicans have made Biden’s management of the southern border one of its central targets in the new Congress. The Department of Homeland Security recently announced it hired a private law firm after Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this month. House Republicans are split over whether and how quickly to move on the articles.
“The Department of Homeland Security has retained outside counsel to help ensure the department’s vital mission is not interrupted by the unprecedented, unjustified, and partisan impeachment efforts by some members of Congress, who have already taken steps to initiate proceedings,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
McCarthy said in a press conference that should House Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry, it would not be for partisan reasons.
“We will never use impeachment for political reasons. It’s just not going to happen,” McCarthy said during a press conference when asked about a possible timeline for impeachment. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the level [of] impeachment, we would not do it.”
