After whiffing last week, House Republicans—at last—impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday.
On Tuesday night, the House voted 214-213 to impeach Mayorkas, with three Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition to the measure.
As the GOP clings to its House majority, Republicans are making the case that they are the party of immigration restrictions and border security. But Republicans have complicated that narrative with their refusal to actually consider bipartisan border enforcement policy, which is why impeaching Mayorkas has become essential to the GOP’s tough-on-immigration message.
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House Republicans have been gearing up for months to impeach Mayorkas—the top Biden administration official who oversees immigration and border security. Republicans claim Mayorkas has “refused to comply” with immigration law and “breached the public trust” for his handling of the Southern border.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) finally put the articles of impeachment to a floor vote last week. But in a humiliating show of dysfunction and disorganization, Republicans were one vote short. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) was absent and three Republicans defected, joining every House Democrat to vote “no” and topple the impeachment effort.
The GOP’s second stab at impeachment Tuesday was successful, however. Thanks to the House GOP, Mayorkas is now the second cabinet secretary to ever be impeached, joining Secretary of War William Belknap (who was impeached in 1876) for the dubious distinction.
In a statement after the vote, Johnson said the House Homeland Security Committee had spent the past year taking “a careful and methodical approach” to the investigation, adding Mayorkas “deserves to be impeached.”
“Since this Secretary refuses to do the job that the Senate confirmed him to do, the House must act,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said in a statement released by the White House: “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.”
Biden described Mayorkas as a Cuban immigrant who arrived with his family in the United States as political refugees, and who has since “spent more than two decades serving America with integrity in a decorated career in law enforcement and public service.”
Biden added: “This impeachment already failed once on a bipartisan vote. Instead of staging political stunts like this, Republicans with genuine concerns about the border should want Congress to deliver more border resources and stronger border security.”
The Mayorkas impeachment is just the latest messaging ploy that isn’t going anywhere. Republicans previously passed a sweeping, conservative border security bill—known on Capitol Hill as H.R. 2—to show their seriousness about an influx of immigrants at the southern border. But that bill doesn’t stand a chance of advancing in the Senate.
On the campaign trail this cycle, Republicans have touted H.R. 2 and impeachment as key achievements of their House majority. And yet, when it came time to actually take steps toward a more restrictive border, Republicans refused to act—even after Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) helped broker a border security deal that adopted many GOP policies for little Democratic concessions.
The reason was simple: Donald Trump.
With Trump stymying any progress on actual border policy, Republicans have settled for sending a message, hoping voters won’t notice the difference.
Still, the teeth-pulling it took to impeach Mayorkas spells trouble for the House GOP’s more ambitious effort of impeaching President Joe Biden for some yet-to-be-proven connection to his son Hunter Biden’s questionable business endeavors.
Although Republicans got the Mayorkas impeachment done in the end, the saga has caused Johnson’s reputation to suffer, as the new speaker tries to combat a gathering narrative that he’s ill-equipped to handle the job.
