President Donald Trump on Monday revoked Secret Service protection for former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached by the House over his failure to secure the southern border.
Mayorkas, who never went to trial on impeachment as the Democrat-controlled Senate dismissed the House charges, wasn’t entitled to Secret Service protection once his tenure ended in January. But protection was extended six months by former President Joe Biden, The Washington Post reported.
Secret Service protection for Biden’s children Hunter Biden and Ashley also ended Monday, the Post reported, a week after Trump said he was revoking it. By law, the children of former presidents are required to have Secret Service protection until age 16, but presidents have the option through executive order to grant protections to some individuals. As with Mayorkas, Biden extended his children’s details for six months.
“Former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Mr. Hunter and Ms. Ashley Biden and their families are no longer ‘protectees’ of the United States Secret Service,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Post in an email.
In February 2024, Mayorkas became the first Cabinet secretary since 1876 to be impeached after the House approved two articles by a 214-213 vote. But Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader at the time, moved to dismiss the charges, arguing Cabinet members cannot be impeached and removed merely for conducting the policies of the administration for which they serve. The Senate followed by narrowly voting to dismiss each charge.
In January, Trump revoked Secret Service protection for John Bolton, a former national security adviser in his first administration. Biden gave such protection to Bolton after Iran threatened his life, likely in retaliation for the killing of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, in a strike ordered by Trump at an Iraqi airport in January 2020, after Bolton left the administration.
