2024-02-14 16:57:16
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives of the United States supported the request for the impeachment of the Minister of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas because of the large influx of migrants along the US-Mexico border, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
The vote marks the first time in nearly 150 years that an American minister has been impeached.
Last week, House Republicans failed to get majority support for their request to remove Mayorkas.
By a vote of 214 to 213, the lower house of Congress today approved two members of impeachment against the Homeland Security secretary on charges that he failed to enforce US immigration laws, leading to record migrant flows through the US- the Mexican border, and that he made false statements to lawmakers.
However, it is unlikely that the Senate, in which the Democratic Party has a majority, will support today’s decision, adds Reuters.
Since Biden took office as president in 2021, a record number of migrants have entered the US illegally crossing the Mexico-US border. Former President Donald Trump has made this a major focus of his campaign against Biden.
Mayorkas says he is not responsible for the border situation and believes the problem stems from a broken US immigration system that Congress is unable to fix.
Biden called today’s decision by the House of Representatives “a clear act of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering against an honorable public servant.”
The Department of Homeland Security released a memo defending Mallorca’s border security policy and urging Congress to work with the Biden administration to reform outdated laws “instead of facilitating this farce of impeachment.”