SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-California, whose district covers a small portion of the U.S.-Mexico border, said he’d vote for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

At a news conference Friday to discuss the ongoing construction of two 30-foot border walls at Friendship Park, Vargas said Mayorkas “betrayed” his district.

“Secretary Mayorkas might come up for an impeachment vote because of what the Republicans have heard,” said Vargas. “I may vote for it, vote for impeachment.”

Vargas said he’s upset with Mayorkas and President Joe Biden for not stepping in to stop border wall construction at the park, which is located on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean between San Diego and Tijuana.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks at the DHS 20th Anniversary Ceremony at DHS headquarters in Washington, DC, March 1, 2023. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-California.

For decades, Friendship Park has provided families with a meeting place where they could gather and mingle with the wall between them.

But Border Patrol officials have said the existing barriers are decaying to the point they’ve become a danger to the public, migrants and the agents who patrol the area, and that they want to replace the existing walls with the 30-foot structures.

A few weeks ago, the work began and it’s expected to take six months.

Many, including Vargas, are afraid the project will mean the end of public access and they want the work stopped, something Vargas said Mayorkas promised he would do.

“He told us he would help us, he hasn’t done it, he betrayed us,” Vargas said.

Recently, several Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio, have stated they would like to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the border and have held hearings on the matter.

Vargas is the first Democrat to publicly state he would consider Mayorkas’ ouster.