U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 8, 2024.
John Moorgetti Images
The Republican-led House of Representatives impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, making it only the second time in U.S. history that a Cabinet member has been impeached.
By a narrow vote of 214-213, the House passed two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, alleging that he intentionally violated federal immigration law and obstructed Congress’ oversight of federal immigration law. Department of Homeland Security.
Mayorkas faces the prospect of a trial in the Senate, where the Democratic majority makes his acquittal almost certain. The Senate is in recess until Feb. 26, when it can either reject the articles of impeachment outright or send the case to a special committee to hear evidence.
President Joe Biden said in a statement after the vote: “History will never look kindly on the unconstitutional and blatant act of partisanship in which House Republicans targeted honorable public servants for petty political maneuvering. Probably not.”
The White House has repeatedly criticized the impeachment effort over the past year, accusing it of political obstruction by Republicans who rejected $20 billion in border security funding in a bipartisan Senate deal last week.
The Department of Homeland Security said, “Secretary Mayorkas was supporting a group of Republican and Democratic senators to develop bipartisan solutions to strengthen border security and ensure necessary resources for enforcement, but the House “Republicans wasted months on a baseless and unconstitutional impeachment,” he said in a statement. vote.
Two Democrats, Rep. Judy Chu of California and Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, were absent from Tuesday’s vote, giving Republicans a majority.
Mr Chu had been in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus. She said in her statement that if she had been on the House floor, she would have voted against impeaching her. post on Tuesday night’s X.
The Republican-led impeachment motion was a small relief for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Republican hardliners after a similar attempt failed last week.
Johnson told NBC News that Republicans were “comfortable that we got the job done” after Tuesday night’s vote.
This time, Republicans were confident they would win. majority vote Impeach the House Majority Leader now Steve ScaliseR-R., is back in Washington after completing cancer treatment, which kept him from breaking last week’s 215-215 tie.
“There are always concerns, but no, it will pass,” Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota said Tuesday ahead of the vote. “All the Republicans will come back and the bill will pass.”
That optimism still hinges on the razor-thin House Republican majority, but lawmakers were concerned that a snowstorm in the Northeast could thwart travel to the Capitol. Even if all Republicans were present, the party could only lose three members of its caucus who voted against impeachment.
In last Tuesday’s vote, Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock of California were bipartisan supporters of Democrats’ efforts to block impeachment. On Tuesday night, all three stuck to their “no” votes.
Days after helping push for impeachment last week, Gallagher announced he would not seek re-election to a fifth term in the House, leaving his seat up for grabs in key battleground states.
Tuesday’s impeachment re-vote took place hours before voting closed in a New York special election to fill the former congressman’s seat. George Santos’ seat would further strain the House Republican majority if Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi wins.
Mr. Johnson and ultra-conservative Republicans see Mr. Mayorkas’ impeachment as a key part of a broader siege over the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border, which has seen record numbers of migrants enter in recent months.
Mayorkas insisted that the chaos at the border was not his fault, but rather a symptom of the country’s decades-old broken immigration system. The Department of Homeland Security is memoargued that the Republicans’ claims were false and did not meet the legal standard for impeachment.
“I’m not responsible for the breakdown of the system,” Mayorkas said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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