House Republicans failed on Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on charges of “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration laws and lying to Congress about the border being “secure.”
A resolution confirming two articles of impeachment against President Biden’s chief border enforcement officer failed almost along party lines — but with four Republicans crucially joining all 212 Democrats to vote against the resolution and the remaining 214 GOPers voting to impeach the 64-year-old DHS chief.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was the only one absent from the vote, as he continues to undergo treatment for blood cancer. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) returned in time for a vote following a car accident in mid-January and was seen wearing a neck brace on the House floor.
Mayorkas would be the second Cabinet official ever to be impeached — and the first since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, who resigned while facing allegations of corruption.
House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday for his “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration laws and lying to Congress about the border being “secure.” Reuters
Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) initially joined Democrats in opposing impeachment, with the pro-Mayorkas team aided by a surprise appearance from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who had missed early voting due to surgery and arrived just before the vote in a wheelchair.
With the vote count even at 215-215 — meaning the resolution was on track to fail — Democratic lawmakers taunted their Republican colleagues with chants of “order” as the clock ticked down.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), whose panel has brought the article to the floor, and others were seen talking to Gallagher to try to convince him to change his mind.
“I don’t believe there has ever been a Cabinet secretary who blatantly, blatantly, knowingly and without remorse did something that was contrary to federal law that he wanted,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said in a press conference Tuesday. Reuters Tuesday’s dramatic vote came down to just two lawmakers. Reuters
But House GOP Conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore ended the drama by switching his vote from “yes” to “no,” to cheers from Democrats in the aisle, even as the Utah Republican moved to join the majority and offered a motion to reconsider, which was delayed. until the next date.
With Scalise’s absence reducing the GOP majority to 218-212 by today, the Legislature could only afford to lose two member votes and disqualify Mayorkas.
In a floor speech Tuesday, McClintock said America’s founders “didn’t want a political dispute to become an impeachment, because that would destroy the separation of powers that gives law enforcement and the president.”
Since Biden took office in January, more than 8.5 million immigrants have been apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection — with at least 7 million of those encounters occurring at the southern border. James Keivom
Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told The Post after a morning conference meeting that the detainers “agree that Secretary Mayorkas has done a terrible job and has not enforced the law and has lied to the American public” — but added that each “have doubts whether the impeachment clause allows the Cabinet secretary or any elected official to be challenged on that ground.”
All 216 GOP lawmakers present for a procedural vote early Tuesday afternoon voted to allow the measure to proceed.
House Republican leaders have expressed confidence ahead of the vote.
In Tuesday’s floor speech, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said America’s founders “didn’t want a political dispute to become an impeachment because that would destroy the separation of powers that gives law enforcement and the president.” Getty Images
“I don’t believe there has ever been a Cabinet secretary who blatantly, blatantly, knowingly and without remorse did something that was contrary to federal law that required it,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), adding that even the prosecution was “an extreme measure … extreme times call for extreme measures.”
“House Republicans fully intend to bring the Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas back to the floor when we have a vote to pass it,” Johnson spokesman Raj Shah said after the vote.
On Monday, Johnson named 11 impeachment managers before a possible Senate hearing: Guest, Green, and Representatives Michael McCaul and August Pfluger of Texas, Clay Higgins of Lousiana, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Laurel Lee of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who authored the resolution.
“For nearly a year, the House Committee on Homeland Security has conducted a thorough, fair and comprehensive investigation into the causes, costs and consequences of the border crisis,” Green said in Tuesday’s floor remarks.
The lower house has tabled two articles of impeachment against President Biden’s chief border enforcement officer almost along party lines. AFP via Getty Images
He continued to investigate, which involved travel to the southern border, interviews with current and former federal law enforcement officials, field hearings, and testimony from attorneys general and grieving mothers who lost their daughters to fentanyl and crime as a result of the border crisis.
“Democrats have consistently claimed these hearings are a waste of time. Tell that to the families of the 150,000 Americans who died from fentanyl poisoning in 2021 and 2022 alone,” Green told House lawmakers.
“Instead, their only response is to simply shout ‘MAGA’ louder and louder, as if that is a meaningful response to the millions of Americans who are suffering from this crisis.”
Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), pictured left, in a debate on the House floor before the vote said the articles of impeachment had “no evidence, no proof, no criminal element – nothing at all.” Getty Images
Green added in Monday night’s Rules Committee hearing that the resolution would hold Mayorkas accountable for “implementing a catch-and-release scheme, violating detention requirements and abuse[ing] parole authority.”
Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said during debate on the House floor that the articles of impeachment had “no evidence, no evidence, no criminal elements — nothing at all.”
Green has previously insisted that former President Richard Nixon, who faced impeachment inquiry during the Watergate scandal, did not face specific criminal charges.
McGovern further cited conservative GOP members like Buck who citing a lack of identifiable crime — and chastised Green for not being able to identify a possible replacement should Mayorkas be ousted.
During Monday’s Rules Committee hearing, McGovern also included a letter from attorneys at the Department of Homeland Security calling the firings “a radical and dangerous step that violates the Constitution.”
House Homeland Security committee member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) has also denounced the effort in past hearings as a “bogus prosecution” and said Mayorkas did not commit high crimes and misdemeanors.
The impeachment resolution accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and lying to Congress about his enforcement of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 by claiming he had “operational control” of the border — and that it was “secure.”
It also said the secretary refused to enforce the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocol, known as the Stay in Mexico policy, which forces migrants to wait for asylum hearings south of the US border.
Another policy allowed for “en masse” humanitarian parole, rather than the “case-by-case policy” required by federal law, according to the resolution, allowing up to 30,000 immigrants to be admitted each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to awaiting their US asylum hearing.
That has led to a backlog of more than 3 million asylum cases, the impeachment resolution added.
Since Biden took office in January, more than 8.5 million immigrants have been apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection — with at least 7 million of those encounters occurring at the southern border.
Another 1.8 million “tourists” are known to evade arrest upon entering the US.
Representative Michael Burgess (R-Texas) drew attention during floor debate to a policy memo issued by Mayorkas on September 30, 2021, which he said was directly responsible for the mass influx and was also cited in the resolution.
The failed impeachment followed news in the Senate earlier on Tuesday that a new $118 billion border security package, including additional military aid for Ukraine and Israel, was effectively dead.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged to reporters that the bill had “no real chance” of passing but still urged his conference to take up foreign military aid in a separate supplemental bill.
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