The House voted Tuesday to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for mismanagement of the border, making him the first-ever sitting Cabinet secretary to be stained with impeachment.
Republicans said they felt compelled to act amid the unprecedented chaos in the country’s immigration system, where the latest data shows the U.S. is adding more than 2 million unauthorized immigrants a year to its population, most of them jumping the southern border.
“Alejandro Mayorkas deserves to be impeached, and Congress has a constitutional obligation to do so,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
The vote was 214-213, with three Republicans siding with Democrats in opposition.
The case now goes to the Senate, which will take up the matter after senators return from a two-week recess. The plan calls for House lawmakers to present the articles of impeachment one day and then to have senators sworn in as jurors for the trial the next day.
President Biden immediately lashed out at Republicans with a statement saying “history” will judge them poorly for a “blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant.”
