House Homeland Security Chair Green set to retire

House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green is expected to announce plans to retire as early as Thursday, marking a surprise exit for a prominent committee chief.

Green is expected to announce he will not seek reelection just days after he spearheaded the GOP push to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to two Republicans familiar with his plans. His exit is already coming as a shock to his colleagues given the win he’d notched with the Mayorkas vote.

Green demurred during a brief Wednesday interview when asked if he planned to retire.

“Today, I am running for election,” Green told POLITICO, while declining to discuss the matter further. He later confirmed his resignation to Axios.

Green, a former Green Beret, showed an eagerness to rise in the ranks after being elected in 2018. He made a bid for the top spot of the House Oversight Committee before later securing the gavel leading the Homeland Security panel. While at the helm this Congress, he made it a clear mission to hammer the Biden administration on the U.S.-Mexico border as the rate of illegal border crossings soared.

He ultimately proved successful in steering the Mayorkas impeachment this week, but only after the party faced an embarrassing vote miscalculation the week before where they failed to properly count the votes.