(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted to have Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas impeached, after previously failing to pass the impeachment articles last week. Mayorkas’s impeachment is a result of the GOP seeking to punish the Biden administration over their border policies.
For the first time in almost 150 years, Mayorkas became the first Cabinet Secretary to face charges. Speaker Mike Johnson managed to pass the impeachment articles in a 214-213 vote despite the opposition of the Democrats in the House.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise who recently returned after a medical absence helped strengthen the Republican numbers as they voted to have Mayorkas impeached.
Following the vote, President Joe Biden released a statement arguing that history would not look positively on the impeachment stating that this was an “act of unconstitutional partisanship” and that they had targeted in their efforts a public servant. The efforts by the Republicans to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the situation at the U.S. border is part of the Republican’s efforts to make good on their campaign priorities.
The Homeland Security Committee had brought forward two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas arguing that he had “willfully and systematically” failed to enforce the immigration laws passed by Congress. They further noted that this was a breach of trust as he had lied to Congress by claiming that the southern border was secure.
However, those who have criticized the impeachment have argued that a policy dispute over the administration’s chosen policies is not an impeachable offense and that it did not rise to the Constitution’s impeachment requirements of high crimes and misdemeanors.
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