Against strong Democratic resistance, Republicans pressed through the accusations in a rerun of their first abortive attempt, making the Homeland Security Secretary the first member of the sitting cabinet to be impeached.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is the target of Republican accusations that he is to blame for the unprecedented number of undocumented migrants who have crossed the border into the United States over the past year, leading the House of Representatives on Tuesday night, 13 February 2024 to vote to remove Mayorkas.

The impeachment vote was 214–213, but three Republicans voted against it, siding with the Democrats. Though they have been pursuing Mayorkas for months, hard-line conservative Republicans were unable to impeach him last week due to a single vote from three House Republicans voting against the effort. House party leaders were unaware that one Democratic lawmaker who was against the impeachment would cast a ballot despite being hospitalized and awaiting surgery.

The decision on Tuesday’s vote was close once more but ended up in favor of impeaching the 64-year-old Cabinet member with the return of Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise who missed last week’s vote due to cancer treatment. After Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, Mayorkas became only the second Cabinet member to be impeached in American history.

As November elections draw near, Republican opponents of Mayorkas may view his impeachment as the political equivalent of an indictment as a symbolic win. These opponents blame Democratic lawmakers and President Joe Biden for the mayhem along the southern border of the United States. At that border, in December, a daily record of 10,000 migrants were captured.

With a 51-49 majority, the Democratic-controlled Senate will undoubtedly exonerate Mayorkas. A conviction requires a two-thirds majority, so if every Republican voted in favor of the conviction, at least 18 Democrats would also need to vote in favor of it.

The Senate will be required to at least begin a trial now the House has impeached Mayorkas. However, it could decide to send the articles of impeachment to a committee, dissolve the trial, or reject the articles.

Top American politicians may or may not be impeached based on their record of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Mayorkas maintains that he is still employed and that the accusations made against him are unfounded.

Republicans who want him impeached claim he broke immigration laws by not holding enough migrants at the border and by introducing a humanitarian parole scheme that lets people into the US who otherwise wouldn’t be eligible. They further contend that he misled Congress by saying that the border is secure.

Chairman of, House Committee on Homeland Security, Mark Green said in a statement following the vote, “The House Committee on Homeland Security’s investigation and subsequent impeachment proceedings demonstrated beyond any doubt that Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and systemically refused to comply with the laws of the United States and breached the public trust.” Following the decision, the leading Democrat on the committee also issued a statement.

“Republicans have acknowledged that this pointless attempt would not result in increased border security. They lack all credibility when it comes to border security matters.  They have rejected any solution for the sole reason that they can have a political wedge issue in an election year, instead of giving the Department of Homeland Security the resources it needs or working together towards a bipartisan solution.” Representative Bennie G. Thompson stated.

Democrats as well as other legal experts have argued that the question of whether to impeach Mayorkas is one of policy rather than one of whether or not he has violated the requirements of the U.S. Constitution by committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

After Biden defeated Republican President Donald Trump in the 2020 election and altered immigration regulations that Trump had enacted, Republicans have attacked Biden and Mayorkas for loosening border barriers.

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