Congressman Al Green has launched another extraordinary attempt to remove President Donald Trump from office, leaving Democrats in a sticky situation just before the fall midterm campaign kicks off in earnest.
Green filed a resolution Monday accusing Trump of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ over his administration’s immigration-enforcement policies.
The move was not part of a broader Democratic impeachment campaign, highlighting the tension between Green’s aggressive approach and Democratic leaders who have repeatedly argued that impeachment should follow a more comprehensive investigative process.
That frustration is not new. During Trump’s first term, then-House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer resisted Green’s impeachment pushes, arguing that investigations should be allowed to proceed.
The same dynamic resurfaced during Trump’s second term. In February 2025, Pete Aguilar, then part of House Democratic leadership, made clear that impeachment was not an immediate priority for Democrats.
Later that year, Hakeem Jeffries and other Democratic leaders again declined to fully embrace Green’s effort. Jeffries said impeachment ‘requires a comprehensive investigative process’ and that the necessary investigative work had not been done.
Josh Gottheimer has also been skeptical of another Trump impeachment, saying, ‘We saw that movie twice and it didn’t work,’ while urging Democrats to focus on congressional oversight.
Representative Al Green filed an articles of impeachment against President Trump on Monday. He alleges that ICE and CBP have been used in ways that interfere with freedom of speech
Green accused the administration of permitting unlawful searches, seizures and arrests, as well as excessive uses of force by immigration-enforcement officers
Among the most prominent cases cited by Green of deaths by ICE agents include Renée Good and Alex Pretti, both 37-year-old US citizens who were killed during encounters involving federal immigration-enforcement personnel in Minneapolis
Jamie Raskin, meanwhile, has remained open to impeachment but wants a strong factual and legal case built first.
The divide is about strategy. Green pushes for immediate action whenever he believes Trump has crossed a constitutional line, while Democratic leadership favors investigations, evidence-gathering and a coordinated approach.
That could matter enormously if Democrats retake the House. They are preparing to launch broad investigations into Trump and his administration, with impeachment becoming an option if those investigations produce a case for it.
Green, however, is once again moving ahead on his own.
Monday’s articles argue that Trump’s conduct violates his constitutional oath, and accuse his administration of allowing ICE and CBP to trample Americans’ constitutional rights.
Green alleges violations of the First and Fourth Amendments: interference with speech and protest, unlawful searches, seizures and arrests, excessive force, and violations of due process and equal protection. He describes ICE and CBP as ‘quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police forces.’
The Texas Democrat’s argument is that Washington’s authority to enforce immigration law does not give it license to ignore constitutional protections. He claims enforcement has involved racially targeted arrests, unjustified detention and unjustified uses of deadly force — not disputed policy, he says, but potential constitutional violations for which the president must be held responsible.
Among the cases he cites are the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, both 37-year-old US citizens killed during encounters with federal immigration-enforcement personnel in Minneapolis, which Green holds up as examples of excessive or unconstitutional force. He also points to the fatal shooting by an ICE agent of illegal migrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.
Because Trump controls the executive branch and sets its immigration-enforcement policies, Green argues, the president cannot distance himself from what federal agencies do under his authority. Allowing or directing unconstitutional conduct, in Green’s view, is fundamentally incompatible with the presidential oath and potentially rises to the level of an impeachable offense.
Monday’s filing is far from Green’s first attempt. It is at least his third of Trump’s second term, part of a years-long campaign to remove him from office.
In May 2025, Green introduced H.Res. 415, titled ‘Impeaching Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors.’ It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and went no further.
Weeks later, on June 24, he was back with H.Res. 537, which contained actual Articles of Impeachment accusing Trump of abusing the powers of his presidency. The House voted to table it the same day.
On December 11, Green introduced H.Res. 939, branding Trump an ‘abuser of Presidential power’ and arguing that leaving him in office would allow him to keep undermining democracy and inciting violence.
Green has said he helped lay the groundwork for Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. Trump was impeached twice by the House during his first presidency, though neither impeachment resulted in his removal by the Senate.
Now Green is back again – putting Democrats in the familiar position of deciding whether to embrace his latest effort or keep their powder dry for a broader, leadership-driven strategy against Trump.
