‘Chaos’: GOP Impeaches Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas

In what congressional Democrats blasted as yet another example of right-wingers in the U.S. House of Representatives creating “chaos” because they “simply can’t govern,” 214 Republicans voted Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Three Republicans—Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Mike Gallagher (Wis.), and Tom McClintock (Calif.)—joined all 210 Democrats present in voting against impeaching Mayorkas for his handling of immigration at the southern U.S. border. Two members of each party did not vote.

Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection in November, said in a lengthy statement after the vote that “history will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) declared that “the ‘do-nothing’ Republican Party continues to waste time and resources that could be spent working for the American people on baseless, partisan attacks of Biden administration officials as they take up this sham impeachment vote of Secretary Mayorkas.”

Jayapal noted that Tuesday’s vote came after a failed attempt last week, when only House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was absent and Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) voted with the three Republicans and 212 Democrats who opposed impeaching Mayorkas.

“There is no question that the immigration system is broken—and what the American people want and deserve is an orderly and humane system that properly processes people and modernizes an outdated immigration system that has not been updated in over 30 years to reflect for the needs of our American economy, communities, and families,” she said.

As The New York Times summarized earlier this month:

The first article of impeachment accuses Mr. Mayorkas of refusing to enforce a law that mandates the detention of migrants who lack authorization to enter the United States, and of exceeding his authority to parole those people into the country, allowing them to live and work temporarily while they wait for their immigration claims to be processed.

The second article accuses the secretary of breaching the public trust by misrepresenting the state of the border to lawmakers and hampering the Republican-led investigation into his conduct.

Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) took to the House floor to condemn the impeachment as a “sham.”

“When you have no record of accomplishment to run on… this is what you do,” he said. “You put on a circus.”

The only other Cabinet member to ever be impeached was William Belknap, who resigned as secretary of war just before the vote in 1876. According to Time, “The Senate went forward with the trial anyway, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict.”

In 2024, the Senate is narrowly controlled by Democrats, and as The Associated Press noted Tuesday, “neither Democratic nor Republican senators have shown interest in the matter and it may be indefinitely shelved to a committee.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that Mayorkas’ impeachment is an attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) “to further appease” former President Donald Trump—the GOP presidential front-runner who has pressured congressional Republicans to abandon their battle for new border policies so he can campaign on limiting immigration.

“This sham impeachment effort is another embarrassment for House Republicans,” said Schumer. “House Republicans failed to produce any evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has committed any crime. House Republicans failed to show he has violated the Constitution.”

“House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense,” he added. “This is a new low for House Republicans.”