Outgoing Representative Al Green (D-TX) has introduced a resolution to impeach President Donald Trump under Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.
This is the fourth time Rep. Green has filed for impeachment against Trump in this Congress. The resolution raises allegations of high crimes and misdemeanors against the president and accuses him of using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as a “vicious” tool to further his immigration agenda.
"Our country and the lives of people within it are at risk as President Donald John Trump is a great threat to the United States democratic republic, its Constitution and democracy…” the resolution said.
Rep. Green argues Trump has used ICE and CBP “as his vicious, quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police forces,” a claim several Democrats have raised in recent months after two men were killed by ICE officers in Maine and Texas.
The resolution specifically cites these killings, among others, as evidence that Trump is “abusing the powers of the presidency” to conduct immigration agencies beyond its intended purpose of border patrol and security.
“[ICE is] transgressing with anonymity and secrecy, assaulting people, committing and covering up unjustified killings of civilians… terrorizing communities and brazenly and wantonly devolving the United States democratic republic into an authoritarian regime,” the resolution said.
Rep. Green also warns against the normalization of ICE and CBP becoming politicized, a concern Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Greg Casar (D-TX) also raised last week during a press conference encouraging local law enforcement to stop cooperating with federal immigration agencies.
Rep. Green will need 218 votes from his colleagues in the House to pass this resolution.
“Impeachment is a political question, as the offenses ‘relate chiefly to injuries done immediately to the society itself,’ as determined by a majority vote of the United States House of Representatives,” the resolution said.
