Washington, Feb 13 (EFE).- The United States House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his management of the border with Mexico.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise speaks to the media following an impeachment vote for US Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, at the House of Representatives at the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, USA, 13 February 2024. EFE/EPA/WILL OLIVER
After a first failed vote on Feb. 6, the Republican-majority House this time won 214-213.
Three Republicans – Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher and Tom McClintock – voted against party lines. Also voting this time was Republican congressman Steve Scalise, who missed last week’s vote due to health issues.
Last week the Republicans failed to gather enough support to approve the impeachment, with 214 votes in favor and 216 against.
Mayorkas, President Joe Biden’s immigration chief, is accused of breach of public trust, and willful and systematic refusal to comply with the law, but the final say lies with the Democratic-majority Senate.
This is the first time that the Lower House has impeached a cabinet secretary in almost 150 years. The only time it has occurred was in 1876, when then-Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached but later acquitted by the Senate.
“History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games,” Biden said in a statement following the vote.
He alluded to last week’s failed vote against Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who arrived with his family in the US as political refugees and who has a “decorated career” of more than two decades of public service.
“Instead of staging political stunts like this, Republicans with genuine concerns about the border should want Congress to deliver more border resources and stronger border security,” Biden added.
House Speaker and Republican Mike Johnson said Mayorkas “deserves to be impeached,” and claimed that since his first day in office, he has “willfully and consistently refused to comply with federal immigration laws, fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history.”
Meanwhile, House Minority Whip and Democrat Katherine Clark, said that in today’s “shameful vote, House Republicans have laid bare the truth that they have never cared about border security, only craven political games.”
“The Republican Majority has not produced a single piece of evidence against Secretary Mayorkas. They refuse to engage with the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats on commonsense immigration solutions. They are only advancing this impeachment to undermine bipartisan action, foment chaos, and bolster Donald Trump,” she added.
Along the same lines, the majority leader in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer, said the only reason for the impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to “further appease Donald Trump.”
The impeachment trial of Mayorkas is unlikely to succeed, given that after Tuesday’s vote the impeachment goes to the Senate, where two-thirds of the votes are required and the Democrats hold the majority.
In the Upper House, a simple majority is even enough for the impeachment trial to not even be put to a vote, a scenario already contemplated by some Democratic senators. EFE
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