Washington — The House is scheduled to vote Tuesday for the second time in a week to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after Republican leaders suffered an embarrassing defeat on the first impeachment.
Mr. Mayorkas survived a narrow death. last week's vote A handful of Republicans voted with all Democrats to let the situation sink, arguing that President Biden's border chiefs had not committed any impeachable crimes in their handling of the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
Republicans have vowed to try again when House Minority Leader Steve Scalise returns to Washington after undergoing cancer treatment.Louisiana Republican I'll get back to work Giving them another vote this week is expected to tip the scales in their favor, barring an absence.
Voting was held on the same day as the special election for New York's 3rd Congressional District. He replaces former Republican Rep. George Santos.This could further narrow the Republican majority in the House. With Democrats potentially picking up floating seats, there is pressure on Republicans to hold another vote quickly.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, expressed confidence Tuesday that the vote will be successful this time.
“All the Republicans will come back and the bill will pass,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday that the impeachment push is “pointless,” “unconstitutional” and “baseless.”
Impeachment lawsuit against Mayorkas
Republicans say Mr. Mayorkas should be charged with felonies and misdemeanors for failing to enforce immigration laws. They have focused much of their discussion on the failure to detain all immigrants while awaiting court proceedings.
Mr. Mayorkas and Democrats argued it was a matter of policy differences and argued that Republicans were using impeachment to score political points during an election year. They say it's up to Congress to fix the “broken” immigration system and allocate more resources to border security.
Legal experts on both sides of the aisle have also criticized the effort, saying Mayorkas' conduct does not meet the standards for impeachment.
Last month, the Republican Party revealed two articles of impeachment Speed against Mallorcas impeachment proceedings.
The first article of impeachment accuses Mayorkas of releasing immigrants into the United States who should have been detained. The second article alleges that Mayorkas previously lied to lawmakers about whether the southern border was secure when he testified that his department had “operational control” of the border. He has accused him of obstructing Congressional oversight of his department.
The Department of Homeland Security said Congress has never given the executive branch the resources and personnel needed to detain all immigrants as required by federal immigration law. He also pointed out how the department conducts “business management” internally and denied that Mr. Mayorkas lied to lawmakers.
“The problems with our broken and outdated immigration system are just beginning,” Mayorkas wrote in a letter last month to Rep. Mark Green (R-Tennessee), the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. That's not the point,” he wrote. “We need legislative solutions, and only Congress can provide them.”
Mayorkas also said he was not upset by the calls for his impeachment.
“I assure you that your false accusations will not sway me or distract me from the mission of law enforcement and broader public service to which I have devoted and continue to devote most of my career. “I do,” he wrote in an earlier letter. Committee.
Republican leaders pushed through last week's painful floor vote amid uncertainty over whether there was enough support to impeach Mayorkas.
The vote appeared to be successful, with three Republicans defecting from the party until Congressman Al Green was elected. suddenly fell to the floor Scrubs in the hospital after intestinal surgery. Texas Democrats were tied 215-215, and the resolution failed.
A fourth Republican also switched his vote at the last minute to give Republican leaders another chance to move up the vote, resulting in a final vote of 214 in favor and 216 against.
Scalise was the only lawmaker not to vote.
One of the Republicans who left the party, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, wrote in a Wall Street Journal article last week that Republicans were setting “a dangerous new precedent that could be used against future Republican administrations.” Stated. Gallagher announced days after his impeachment vote that he would not seek re-election.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters Tuesday that he was not concerned about setting a precedent by impeaching Mayorkas, calling it “an exceptional case in the history of the United States.” Stated.
“As I have said many times, the House of Commons has a constitutional responsibility, perhaps second only to declaring war,” Johnson said. must be fulfilled,” he said.
If impeached, the charges against Mayorkas are unlikely to make much headway in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority and would require a two-thirds majority to convict and remove him from office.
Ellis Kim and Patrick Maguire Contributed to the report.
