On Tuesday, members of the Republican Party in the U.S. House succeeded in their second attempt to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security. This event underscores the growing tensions between the GOP and the White House, especially when it comes to immigration decisions at the southern border.
The House voted 214-213 in favor ofimpeaching Mayorkas, who’s facing charges of purposely disregarding immigration law and misleading Congress about the border security situation. Interestingly, this is just the second time a Cabinet member has been impeached. The first time was Secretary of War, William Belknap, back in 1876.
Last week, the same resolution failed by a slim margin. But a change of vote by Republican Blake Moore of Utah, allowed for reconsideration of the resolution. House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green expressed that this impeachment was due to the worst border crisis sparked by Mayorkas.
All Democrats and three Republican House members voted against the impeachment of Mayorkas. They argue that this isn’t a case for impeachment, but rather for policy disputes. The opposing Republicans were representatives Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher, and Tom McClintock.
President Biden criticized the impeachment decision, calling it just political games. Biden praised Mayorkas for his service to US nation for over two decades and urged the Republicans to focus on strengthening border security rather than indulging in such stunts.
After the impeachment vote, DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg criticized House Republicans for using Constitution for political advantage rather than working on actual challenges at the border. Now, as per the Constitution, the Senate needs to hold an impeachment trial. The impeachment would be approved only with two-thirds of the Senate voting for it.
While major clashes are ongoing between the Republicans and Democrats on immigration issues, the impeachment move might work as an epitome of this conflict.
Last week, the Senate Republicans rejected a bipartisan border security deal that was meant for major overhaul of U.S. immigration law, leading to intensified tensions. This agreement also included provisions for stronger border security and stricter asylum claims requirements.
The package to enhance global security, which was linked to a $95 billion security agreement, passed without the immigration deal. While the Democrats see the impeachment efforts of Mayorkas as a political drama, Republicans believe that Mayorkas needs to be held accountable for the souther border situation.
House Republicans had a slight majority, but still had to struggle for passing the vote due to absences last week. The same Republicans who voted against the second impeachment were the ones who had opposed the first as well.
After the vote, Gallagher, an important figure in impeaching Mayorkas, made it known that he won’t be contesting in the next election. In his opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Gallagher mentioned his concerns about this move setting a bad precedent.
In a recent statement by the White House, it’s been mentioned that if Mayorkas is impeached, it would be just a political act of revengeand won’t do any good to resolve the Nation’s border security challenges.
