WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday night, a surprise defeat for the Republican-led push to impeach a Biden administration Cabinet secretary.
All Democrats and four Republicans present voted against it the two charges. The vote was 214-216.
The Republican lawmakers who voted against impeachment were Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Blake Moore of Utah.
Moore supported impeachment but changed his vote at the request of Republican leadership. according to Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greenea leading supporter of Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Moore’s vote against the articles of impeachment allows House leaders to try again next week. Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, missed Tuesday’s vote but is expected to return next week.
After the failed vote, White House spokesman Ian Sams called on House Republicans to abandon their impeachment efforts and join bipartisan talks on immigration policy.
“There is clear bipartisan agreement that this baseless, unconstitutional impeachment attempt should fail,” he said in a statement.
“House Republicans should recognize that extreme political stunts like this are a waste of time and instead join with the President, Secretary Mayorkas, and Republicans and Democrats who want to work together to find real solutions that actually strengthen border security.”
GOP push against Mayorkas
Republicans had pushed for weeks to impeach Mayorkas for violating immigration enforcement laws. Democrats condemned the unusual move ahead of the November election as politically motivated.
“Secretary Mayorkas has explicitly refused to comply with the law,” said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green of Tennessee. who led the impeachment effort. “If your refusal to obey the law results in the deaths of your fellow citizens, you no longer deserve to keep your job.”
Green has often blamed Mayorkas for the overdose deaths of Americans from fentanyl and other opioids smuggled across the southern border.
Republicans accuse Mayorkas of failing to comply with immigration law and violating public trust.
Democrats argued that Republican criticism did not meet the constitutional requirement for impeachment but amounted to criticism of the Biden administration’s policies on the southern border.
The White House announced a statement that the Biden administration opposed the resolution first introduced by Greene.
“Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retaliation that would do nothing to address the challenges our nation faces in securing the border,” the White House said.
Disagreement over immigration sends Congress into turmoil
The attempted impeachment vote heightened conflict between House Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration over how to manage the southern border amid unprecedented numbers of migrants. The issue has enlivened the 2024 presidential election and is a central part of GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign.
The vote followed Senate Republicans’ decision early Tuesday go away a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate that would overhaul U.S. immigration law and lead to tough immigration measures. This agreement is also linked to the provision of vital aid to Ukraine in the war with Russia.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana argued that the immigration deal in the Senate was not tough enough and that it would authorize the same Cabinet secretary that House Republicans have impeached.
However, he acknowledged during a press conference on Tuesday that not all Republicans would agree to indict Mayorkas.
“I respect everyone’s views on this,” he said of Republicans who expressed concern about the charges.
With Republicans holding a razor-thin majority and all Democrats voting against impeachment, Johnson could only afford to lose two Republican votes on Tuesday.
Conviction by the Senate was unlikely
The House vote was on a resolution that included two articles of impeachment.
The first count accused Mayorkas of a “deliberate and systematic refusal to obey the law.”
The second article of impeachment accused Mayorkas of breaching public trust by making false statements during testimony before Congress, particularly citing statements made by Mayorkas in which he told lawmakers the border was “secure.”
If the House had voted to impeach, the matter would have been sent to the Senate for trial. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority, which would be unlikely in a chamber where Democrats hold a slim majority.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, gave no indication during a news conference Tuesday how the Senate would handle a possible impeachment trial.
“First, let’s see what the House does,” he said.
Immigration surge
During debate in the House on the articles of impeachment, Democrats argued that Republicans had failed to provide evidence to meet the high impeachment hurdle and said Republican lawmakers were appeasing Trump.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, said House Republicans had presented “not a shred of evidence” to impeach Mayorkas.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who served as impeachment manager in Trump’s second impeachment trial, said Republicans are pursuing a Cabinet member who has not committed treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.
He said it was ironic that Republicans sought to impeach Mayorkas, who has been working with the Senate for months to find a solution to stem the flow of migrants at the southern border.
Democrats have also criticized Trump’s influence over Republicans involved in the immigration debate on Capitol Hill and scuttled efforts to reform immigration policy – something Congress has not done in nearly 40 years.
“Republicans are taking their orders from Donald Trump,” said Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.
He called the effort to impeach Mayorkas a “sham” and that the articles do not meet the high bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that is the Constitution’s standard for impeachment.
“It’s a baseless attack on a dedicated public servant,” Thompson said.
“Donald Trump doesn’t want a border solution, he wants the border problem to continue,” Raskin said.
Green defended himself against criticism from Democrats that there was little evidence of impeachment. He said his committee spent a year gathering evidence supporting Mayorkas’ impeachment.
“The truth is that this process was extremely thorough,” Green said.
Republicans said Mayorkas should be held accountable because of the unprecedented number of migrants at the southern border.
Greene, of Georgia, who has advocated for Mayorkas’ impeachment for months, said the secretary was responsible for the “invasion” at the border.
“I argue that violation of our laws is more than just political differences,” she said.
Democrats call impeachment ‘political theater’
But House Democrats said the impeachment process was deeply flawed and wasn’t really about fixing the immigration system. Some noted that Republicans rejected a bipartisan Senate package of border security funding and immigration policy changes.
“I would say it’s a clown show, but that would be a disservice to actual working clowns,” said Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee.
He said impeachment should come after a “serious constitutional violation” and not because of a political disagreement.
Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez of New Jersey defended Mayorkas, saying that Mayorkas is “operating within a broken immigration system” that Congress has failed to fix.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, Democrat of New Mexico, called the charges “political theater” and said Republicans are not working to get a handle on immigration policy.
“They just blew up a bipartisan deal in the Senate,” she said. “They have refused to provide Secretary Mayorkas with the resources and legal changes he needs to reform the immigration system so our border is secure.”
Republican Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas said the Senate deal does not concern border security.
“Immigration reform can come later, after border security is established,” he said.
