2024-02-14 13:07:33
The Lower House of the United States approved this Tuesday to impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, for his management of the border with Mexico.
After the failed vote on February 6, that chamber, with a Republican majority, this time gave its approval to that process by 214 votes in favor and 213 against.
Mayorkas, US President Joe Biden’s immigration chief, is accused of “violation of public trust” y “systematic and deliberate refusal to comply with the law”, but the last word lies with the Senate, under Democratic control.
Republican Congressmen Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher and Tom McClintock voted against the resolution, in addition to the entire Democratic bench as a whole.
Also part of the vote was Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, who did not attend last week’s session due to health problems and this time he was present at the plenary session.
The minimal approval this Tuesday comes after a week ago the Republicans, who are the majority in the House, did not gather enough votes to approve the impeachment trial against Mayorkas, with a surprising result of 214 votes in favor and 216 against.
This is the first time that the Lower House has sent a Government secretary to impeachment in almost 150 years. To date, the only time it has occurred was in 1876, when then-Secretary of War William Belknap was indicted but later acquitted by the Senate.
After tonight’s vote, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, regretted the “blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant to play petty political games“.
He alluded to last week’s failed vote against Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States with his family as a political refugee and has a “decorated career” of more than two decades of public service.
“Republicans with genuine concerns about the border should want Congress to provide more border resources and stronger border security”Biden added.
For his part, the president of the Lower House, Republican Mike Johnson, stated that since his first day in office Mayorkas has deliberately and consistently refused to comply with federal immigration laws, “fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history,” as confirmed by the investigation of a congressional committee.
In turn, the minority leader of Congress, Democrat Kartherine Clark, pointed out that the “shameful vote” today reflects that Republicans in the House of Representatives “They have never cared about border security, only cowardly political games.”
“They refuse to engage with the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats on common-sense immigration solutions. They are only pushing this impeachment trial to undermine bipartisan action, foment chaos, and bolster Donald Trump,” he added.
Along the same lines, the majority leader in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer. He said the only reason for this impeachment is that the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, “further appease Donald Trump.”
The impeachment trial of Mayorkas is unlikely to succeed, given that after today’s vote the impeachment goes to the Senate, where two-thirds of the votes are required and the Democrats hold the majority.
In the Upper House, a simple majority is even enough for the impeachment trial to not even be put to a vote, a scenario already contemplated by some Democratic senators.
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