WASHINGTON — The United States House of Representatives approved on Tuesday to initiate an impeachment trial against the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, accused by Republicans for his management of the southern border of the United States, whose crisis is affecting American cities due to the massive migration.
The vote comes after a similar first attempt failed last week. It is the first time in 150 years that a political trial has been opened against a senior cabinet official. It only happened in 1876 with Secretary of War William Belknap.
President Joe Biden was quick to react and called the historic vote against Secretary Mayorkas “unconstitutional.” The House of Representatives is in the power of the Republicans.
“History will not look favorably on House Republicans for their flagrant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant to engage in petty political games,” the Democratic leader said in a statement.
Breaking immigration law
The Lower House approved the trial against Mayorkas by 214 votes in favor and 213 against. With the return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise to bolster the Republican caucus after being away from Washington for cancer treatment, Republicans rallied, despite dissent from their own ranks.
The lower house of Congress, where conservatives have a narrow majority, formally accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration law and having “violated the public trust.”
The chances of it succeeding in the Senate are almost zero given that the Democrats have a majority, albeit a small one.
It was the second blow by the Republicans against Mayorkas after a resounding failure last week for not having correctly calculated how many congressmen there would be in the chamber.
Voting was tight
Tuesday’s vote was very close, but the balance tipped in favor of indictment thanks to the return of the Republican majority leader in this chamber, Steve Scalise, after receiving cancer treatment. It was adopted by one vote: 214 to 213.
“After a declaration of war, impeachment is arguably the most serious power given to the House and we have dealt with this matter accordingly,” said the president of the institution, Republican Mike Johnson.
“Since this secretary refuses to do the job… the House must act,” he added.
The reaction of the Democratic president has been immediate.
Hundreds of thousands continue to enter
Conservatives have been blaming Mayorkas for months for the record inflows of migrants, many of them Latin Americans.
They denounce an “invasion” and the “chaos” of an “open door policy”: migrants or asylum seekers only in December. Fiscal year 2023 concluded with the interception of more than 3.2 million people, and in the first four months of fiscal year 2024, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 1,231,213 encounters of undocumented migrants.
The political indictment (known in English as impeachment) takes place in two stages.
First, the House of Representatives votes, by simple majority, on the articles of impeachment. This is what the congressmen did for the second time this Tuesday.
After the indictment, the Senate, the upper house of Congress, will put him on trial. He needs a two-thirds majority to convict, in which case dismissal is automatic and without appeal.
Otherwise, Alejandro Mayorkas will be acquitted. The opening of a political trial generates controversy.
Congressman Ken Buck, one of three Republicans who voted against it last week, called the measure a “gimmick.”
In an open letter, 25 legal experts consider it “completely unjustified”, despite the unprecedented immigration crisis in the history of the United States.
In a memorandum, the Department of Homeland Security described this Tuesday as a “political game” by Republicans who complain about the situation at the border but blocked a bipartisan immigration agreement in the Senate with more restrictions that they themselves had requested.
But the agreement is considered too lax by the most radical conservatives, because with the bill, the entry of thousands of migrants was allowed.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
