In a razor-thin vote of 214-213, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Republicans blame him for the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Biden’s immigration chief has been at the helm of the agency during an unprecedented surge of illegal aliens for the past three years.
H. Res. 863 passed the House, accusing Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including “willful and systemic refusal” to enforce immigration law and “breach of public trust.”
A previous impeachment attempt failed in the House last week. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was not present due to medical issues, but he did cast a “yes” for impeachment this time. Republican Blake Moore (R-Utah) also voted for it, though he flipped to “no” last week to ensure the measure could be retried. The two of them accounted for last night’s passage of the impeachment articles.
Mayorkas is the second Cabinet secretary to be impeached in U.S. history. The first was Secretary of War William Belknap, impeached in the House in 1876 for a scandal known as the “Indian Ring” — he was found to have received kickbacks from military contracts. However, the Senate acquitted him.
Political commentators expect the same result for Mayorkas.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) sponsored the measure and spoke to the press after the vote:
