The Republican-led House on Tuesday night impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over what they say is his failure to enforce immigration law at the southern border.
He denies that as partisan and “baseless” and Democrats argue the historic impeachment is a political ploy.
It marks just the second time in U.S. history a Cabinet official has been impeached, after William Belknap in 1876.
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas passed 214-213, with the majority made up of all Republicans and three Republicans voting with Democrats against impeachment. Two Democrats and two Republicans did not vote.
“Alejandro Mayorkas deserves to be impeached, and Congress has a constitutional obligation to do so,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement. “Next to a declaration of war, impeachment is arguably the most serious authority given to the House and we have treated this matter accordingly.”
Johnson blamed Mayorkas for “fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history.”
Mayorkas will now face a trial in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote will be needed to convict and remove him from office, which is very unlikely to happen. The chamber’s majority leader, Chuck Schumer, on Tuesday night labeled the impeachment a “sham.”
Republicans have accused Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” amid a surge in unauthorized migrant crossings, according to the articles of impeachment against him.
“This administration has removed, returned, or expelled more migrants in three years than the prior Administration did in four years,” DHS responded in a memo circulated ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
A department spokesperson shot back on Tuesday night, after the impeachment vote, that “without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country.”
“Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe,” the spokesperson said.
President Joe Biden echoed that criticism in a statement of his own, saying in part, “History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise speaks during a news conference on the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden in the U.S. Capitol, November 29, 2023.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
A previous attempt to impeach the secretary surprisingly failed last week after three Republicans voted against it along with all Democrats present, but House Majority Leader Steve Scalise returned to Capitol Hill after blood cancer treatment to help his party’s narrow majority in the second vote, on Tuesday.
Scalise’s office said in a statement on Thursday that he “successfully completed his autologous stem cell treatment and has been medically cleared to resume travel.”
The Louisiana Republican is in “complete remission,” his office said then.
After Democrats — and the three Republicans — said an impeachment over what they called “policy differences” was wrong, last week’s vote failed 214-216, marking a crushing defeat for Speaker Johnson and other House GOP leaders.
“Last night was a setback, but democracy is messy,” Johnson told reporters the next day on Capitol Hill, seeking to soften the losses. “We live in a time of divided government. We have a razor-thin margin here, and every vote counts.”
Last week, Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado voted against Mayorkas’ impeachment, telling ABC News’ Jay O’Brien that the secretary had “not committed a high crime or misdemeanor.”
“There is a policy difference,” Buck said.
Buck was joined by fellow GOP defectors Reps. Tom McClintock and Mike Gallagher, who announced over the weekend that he won’t run for reelection. The three were still expected to vote against impeaching Mayorkas.
On NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mayorkas repeated that the Republicans’ allegations to impeach him are “baseless.”
He said the flood of migrants at the border has been a problem for years and that legislative action is needed to fix the system.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks about security during a news conference ahead of Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 7, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
“The system has not been fixed for 30 years. A bipartisan group of senators have now presented us with the tools and resources we need — bipartisan group — and yet, Congress killed it before even reading it,” Mayorkas said.
This past December, there were 302,000 encounters along the southwest border — the highest monthly total ever recorded.
Kristen Welker pressed Mayorkas on NBC on whether he bears the responsibility for the flood of migrants crossing the border — something President Joe Biden has called a “crisis.”
“It certainly is a crisis, and, well, we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system and we’re doing a tremendous amount within that broken system,” Mayorkas said. “But, fundamentally, fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix that.”
Last week, the Senate’s vote to advance a bipartisan foreign aid bill with major border provisions failed — a blow to the Senate negotiators who worked for months with Mayorkas to develop the border deal.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
