The House of Representatives, by an extremely narrow margin, voted on Tuesday (13) for the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.
The impeachment comes as House Republicans face increasing pressure from their base to hold President Joe Biden and his departments and agencies accountable for immigration and border security policies. House Republicans claim that Mayorkas has committed serious crimes and misdemeanors in how he has handled the southern border of the country, although several constitutional experts have stated that the evidence presented does not justify an impeachment.
Only one Cabinet official has been impeached in American history: Secretary of War, William Belknap, in 1876.
The vote on Tuesday was 214 to 213. Three Republicans – Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock of California – voted with the Democrats against the measure.
The Department of Homeland Security stated that House Republicans “will be remembered by history for trampling the Constitution” following the impeachment vote.
“Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue to work every day to keep Americans safe,” the statement said.
And they will need to, as for the impeachment to move forward, the Senate, which has a Democratic majority, also needs to approve it, which is unlikely to happen. Democrats accuse Republicans of having initiated the impeachment process unilaterally and using it as a political tool, attempting to blame the current administration for the crisis at the border. Immigration, especially along the southern border of the country, is emerging as one of the main campaign issues in this year’s election race.
Source: CNN