The effort to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandros Mayorkas has failed following a vote by the United States House of Representatives.
Mayorkas has been accused of being derelict in his duty and failing to enforce border security laws. Under President Joe Biden, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have entered the country.
Three House Republicans broke ranks with their colleagues and voted against the two articles of impeachment, which were passed by the House Rules Committee on Feb. 5. The resolution accused Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors” and of violating his oath to “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and to well and faithfully discharge the duties of his office.” It further affirms that Mayorkas “willfully and systemically refused to comply with Federal immigration laws.”
“In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States,” states the resolution. “His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security and has had a dire impact on communities across the country.”
Colorado Congressman Ken Buck vowed to vote against the impeachment efforts on Feb. 2. The Republican said he did not believe Mayorkas’s actions or inactions since taking office constituted an impeachable offense.
Buck was joined by Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher and Californian Congressman Tom McClintock.
McClintock sent his Republican colleagues a 10-page memo on Feb. 6 defending his decision to vote against the impeachment. He argued that while the impeachment articles show the Biden administration’s policy “is the result of reversing the successful policies of the Trump administration” and that the “nation’s immigration laws are deliberately being minimized by poor enforcement,” the articles “fail to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.”
“The logic should be very obvious. A cabinet secretary’s job is to carry out the will of the President,” wrote McClintock. “How can he be impeached for not doing his job because he is doing it?”
In a separate statement, Gallagher similarly argued that Mayorkas “has faithfully implemented President Biden’s open border policies and helped create the dangerous crisis at the southern border,” but that “proponents of impeachment failed to make the argument as how his stunning incompetence meets the impeachment threshold Republicans outlined while defending former President Trump.”
Congressman Blake Moore of Utah initially voted in favor of impeachment but reversed his decision seconds before the vote closed. Because of this procedural maneuver, the motion to impeach can be brought back to the House floor for another vote. Thank you, @ChadPergram, for explaining how my procedural “no” vote will allow @HouseGOP to bring this impeachment resolution up for another vote. pic.twitter.com/n0375TKzoJ
— Congressman Blake Moore (@RepBlakeMoore) February 7, 2024
If it passes, Mayorkas will be the first cabinet member to be impeached in the last 150 years.
