House Republicans failed Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on charges of “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration law and lying to Congress about the border It is “safe”.
The resolution affirming two articles of impeachment against President Biden’s border enforcement chief failed almost along party lines, but crucially four Republicans joined all 212 Democrats in voting against the resolution and the remaining 214 Republicans voted in favor of the impeachment of the 64-year-old head of the DHS. .
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was the only one absent from the vote as he continues to receive treatment for blood cancer. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) returned just in time for the vote after a car accident in mid-January and was seen wearing a neck brace on the House floor.
Mayorkas would have been only the second Cabinet official to be indicted, and the first since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, who resigned while facing corruption charges.
House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday for his “deliberate and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration law and for 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 pro-Mayorkas forces helped by an appearance surprise of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who had missed the previous votes due to surgery and arrived shortly before the vote in a wheelchair.
With the vote count even at 215-215 – meaning the resolution was on the brink of failure – Democratic lawmakers heckled their Republican colleagues with cries of “order” as the clock ticked down.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), whose panel had introduced the articles, and others were seen speaking to Gallagher to try to convince him to change his mind.
“I don’t think there has ever been a Cabinet secretary who has so blatantly, openly, willingly and without remorse done the exact opposite of what federal law requires him to do,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), in a statement. Tuesday press conference. Reuters Tuesday’s dramatic vote came down to just two lawmakers. Reuters
But House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore ended the drama by changing his vote from “yes” to “no,” drawing cheers from the Democratic side of the aisle, even though the Utah Republican had made the change. to join the majority and offer a motion for reconsideration, which has been postponed to a future date.
With Scalise’s absence reducing the Republican majority to 218-212 at the start of the day, House Republicans could only afford to lose the votes of two members and impeach Mayorkas.
In a speech Tuesday, McClintock said the American founders “did not want political disputes to become political trials, because that would destroy the separation of powers vested in the president in enforcing the laws.”
Since Biden took office in January, more than 8.5 million migrants have been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and at least 7 million of those encounters occurred at the southern border. James Keivom
Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told the Post after a morning conference meeting that holdouts “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 “I have reservations about whether the impeachment clause allows Cabinet secretaries or any elected officials to be impeached on those grounds.”
All 216 Republican lawmakers present in a procedural vote Tuesday afternoon had voted to allow the measure to advance.
House Republican leaders had expressed confidence before the vote.
In a speech Tuesday, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said the founders of the United States “did not want political disputes to become political trials because that would destroy the separation of powers that vests the president in enforcing the laws.” fake images
“I don’t think there has ever been a Cabinet secretary who has so blatantly, openly, willingly and without remorse done the exact opposite of what federal law requires him to do,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), and added. that while the impeachment trial was “an extreme measure…extreme times call for extreme measures.”
“House Republicans have every intention of reintroducing the articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas when we have the votes to pass them,” Johnson spokesman Raj Shah said after the vote.
On Monday, Johnson named 11 impeachment managers ahead of a possible Senate trial: Guest, Green and Reps. Michael McCaul and August Pfluger of Texas, Clay Higgins of Lousiana, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Andrew Garbarino from New York. , Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Laurel Lee of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, authors of the resolution.
“For nearly a year, the House Homeland Security Committee conducted a thorough, fair, and exhaustive investigation into the causes, costs, and consequences of the border crisis,” Green said in his Tuesday speech.
The House had introduced two articles of impeachment against President Biden’s border enforcement chief, almost along partisan lines. AFP via Getty Images
He went on to lay out the investigation, which involved trips to the southern border, interviews with current and former federal law enforcement officials, a field hearing and testimony from state attorneys general and grieving mothers who lost their daughters to fentanyl and crime due to The border crisis.
“Democrats consistently claimed that these hearings were 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 was to simply shout ‘MAGA’ louder and louder, as if that were a meaningful response to the millions of Americans suffering from this crisis.”
Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), pictured left, in a House debate before the vote said the articles of impeachment had “no evidence “No evidence, no elements of a crime, nothing at all.” fake images
Green added at a Rules Committee hearing Monday night that the resolution would have held Mayorkas accountable for having “implemented a catch-and-release plan, violating detention requirements and misuse.”[ing] parole authority.”
Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Rules Committee, said during the House debate that the articles of impeachment had “no evidence, no evidence, no elements of a crime, nothing at all.” .
Green had previously noted that former President Richard Nixon, who faced an impeachment inquiry during the course of the Watergate scandal, did not face accusations of specific crimes.
McGovern also cited reluctant Republican members like Buck, who cited lack of identifiable crimes – and criticized Green for failing to identify a possible successor should Mayorkas be ousted.
During Monday’s Rules Committee hearing, McGovern also presented a letter from Department of Homeland Security lawyers who called impeachment “a radical and dangerous step in violation of the Constitution.”
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, had also denounced the effort in previous hearings as a “sham impeachment” and said Mayorkas had committed no serious crimes or misdemeanors. .
The impeachment resolution accused Mayorkas of failing to follow the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and lying to Congress about his application of the Secure Fence Act of 2006 by claiming that he had “operational control” of the border and that it was “ safe”.
He also said the secretary refused to enforce the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, known as the Remain in Mexico policy, which forces migrants to wait for asylum hearings south of the border with the United States.
Other policies allowed for humanitarian parole “en masse,” rather than on a “case-by-case basis” required by federal law, according to the resolution, allowing up to 30,000 immigrants to enter each month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They await their asylum hearings in the United States.
This has caused a backlog of more than 3 million asylum cases, the impeachment resolution added.
Since Biden took office in January, more than 8.5 million migrants have been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and at least 7 million of those encounters occurred at the southern border.
Another 1.8 million people known as “escapees” evaded arrest upon entering the United States.
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) drew attention during the debate to a policy memo released 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 trial followed news in the Senate on Tuesday that a new $118 billion border security package, which included additional military aid for Ukraine and Israel, was effectively dead.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) admitted to reporters that the bill had “no real chance” of passing, but still urged his conference to address foreign military assistance in a separate companion bill.
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