Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff criticized the GOP's intentions to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, calling it a "political stunt."
During an interview on Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan asked Chertoff about what could happen if a Republican-led Congress tries to impeach Mayorkas, the current DHS secretary.
"Well, it would be a very sad day if—in search of what is, again, a political stunt, you know, threatening to impeach Secretary Mayorkas," Chertoff, a Republican who served under former President George W. Bush said, adding that efforts should be directed towards creating resources and finding ways to deal with immigration-related issues.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, on Tuesday called for Mayorkas to resign over the way he is handling the U.S.-Mexico border and threatened that the GOP would consider impeaching him next year if he doesn't resign.
McCarthy referenced some of the issues that the GOP are concerned about, including the Biden administration's decision to end the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy, which limited immigration at the southern border and efforts to end Title 42, a COVID-19 policy that limited the entrance of asylum-seekers to curb the spread of the disease.
"His actions have produced the greatest wave of illegal immigration in recorded history. Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas' dereliction of duty," McCarthy said during a press conference in El Paso, Texas.
He continued: "This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign. He cannot and must not remain in that position. If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure, [and] will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry."
In response to McCarthy's threat, a DHS spokesperson said last Wednesday, according to NBC News, that "members of Congress can do better than point the finger at someone else; they should come to the table and work on solutions for our broken system and outdated laws, which have not been overhauled in over 40 years."
Brennan on Sunday also asked former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, a Democrat who served during the Barack Obama administration, to weigh in with his thoughts about the possibility of the GOP impeaching Mayorkas.
"What people need to know, and Michael and I know this, the secretary of Homeland Security is focused on border security, maritime security, aviation security, cyber security, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and a host of other things. We can't have a secretary who's distracted by a stunt in Congress at attempt at impeachment," Johnson said.
House Republicans recently voted 188-31 by secret ballot to nominate McCarthy for House speaker as the GOP narrowly took control of the House in this year's midterm elections.
Mayorkas previously fased impeachment threats over what critics called a misleding response to images that some believed showed Border Patrol agents whipping Haitian migrants amid an influx of people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border last September.