The House of Representatives has impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Since 1876, the U.S. Congress has never impeached a cabinet secretary.
The office of Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer announced that Mayorka’s trial for impeachment will begin this month.
Schumer’s Office said in a press release that “the House impeachment manager will present the articles to the Senate after the state work period.” The next day, senators will be sworn in as jurors at the trial. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray is expected to preside.”
The vote on Tuesday marked the second attempt by House Republicans to impeach Mayorkas. GOP lawmakers accused Biden of intentionally violating immigration laws and worsening the situation in the U.S. border crisis.
Two impeachment motions were brought by the House GOP against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mayorkas narrowly escaped being impeached last week after every House Democrat turned out to protect him, including Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who temporarily left his hospital bed where he had just recovered from surgery to cast his ballot.
Three Republicans also voted against the measure: Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis. ), Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.).
Both criticized Mayorkas for his handling of the border, but both had doubts about whether this was enough to warrant impeachment. McClintock said it could create a precedent of political impeachments which could hurt GOP officials in the future.
McClintock stated last week that “swapping leftists is a fantasy. It solves nothing and excuses Biden’s guilt. It also unconstitutionally increases impeachment, which will one day bite Republicans.”
Rep. Mike Gallagher voted with the Republicans last week against impeachment.
In comments made to reporters just hours before Tuesday’s vote, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dismissed any concerns regarding precedent.
Johnson accused Mayorkas of doing more damage to the country than any cabinet secretary in history.
He also spoke about the likelihood that impeachment will not be successful in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“The House is constitutionally responsible, as I have said numerous times. This is probably the most important thing next to declaring war. Johnson added, “We have to carry out our duties regardless of what happens in the other chamber.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made the border an issue that he would focus on during his time as leader of the House.
The House Homeland Security Committee approved two impeachment articles against Mayorkas. The House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles against Mayorkas. One accused him of “refusing to comply with Federal Immigration Laws” and another of violating “public trust”.
Department of Homeland Security criticized House Republicans for holding an impeachment second vote against Mayorkas on Tuesday. It cited comments from GOP lawmakers who called the effort a time-waster.
House Republicans’ baseless attempt to impeach Mayorkas failed once before, due to bipartisan opposition. The Department of Homeland Security said that if Members of Congress are concerned about national security, then they should stop wasting their time with this unconstitutional, pointless impeachment.
DHS spokeswoman said that House Republicans will be remembered for “trampling on the Constitution to gain political advantage rather than working towards solving the serious challenges we face at our border.”
The spokesperson stated that “while Secretary Mayorkas helped a group of Republican and Democratic Senators to develop bipartisan solutions for border security and obtain needed resources for enforcement,” House Republicans wasted months on this unconstitutional, baseless impeachment.
“Without any evidence or constitutional grounds and despite bipartisan resistance, House Republicans have slandered a dedicated civil servant who has served our country for more than 20 years enforcing laws. Secretary Mayorkas will continue to work every day with the Department of Homeland Security to keep Americans safe.”
Biden stated that history will not be kind to the House Republicans because of their unconstitutional act of partisanship, which targeted an honorable government servant for petty political purposes.
This impeachment has already failed in a bipartisan vote. Republicans who are genuinely concerned about the border should instead want Congress to provide more resources for border security and increase border resources.
