The Republican-controlled US House voted 214–213 on Tuesday to remove Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, vowing to hold the Biden administration accountable for its management of the US–Mexico border. For House Republicans, it was a case of second chances. Voters last week rejected the plan 214–216.
Republicans gained ground—despite opposition from within their own ranks, according to the AP—with the return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise to support the party's numbers after he left Washington for cancer treatment and a storm that affected some others in the Northeast.
With the vote, Mayorkas becomes the first member of the Cabinet to face impeachment since the 1876 impeachment of William Belknap, the secretary of defense under President Ulysses Grant. The only Cabinet member now in office to ever face impeachment is Mayorkas, since Belknap resigned only seconds before the vote.
The same three Republicans who voted against impeachment last week were present on Tuesday. Two Democrats, Reps. Lois Frankel and Judy Chu, reportedly skipped the vote for unknown reasons, according to the New York Times. Should they have voted against the bill, it would have failed.
Republicans gained ground—despite opposition from within their own ranks, according to the AP—with the return of Majority Leader Steve Scalise to support the party's numbers after he left Washington for cancer treatment and a storm that affected some others in the Northeast.
With the vote, Mayorkas becomes the first member of the Cabinet to face impeachment since the 1876 impeachment of William Belknap, the secretary of defense under President Ulysses Grant. The only Cabinet member now in office to ever face impeachment is Mayorkas, since Belknap resigned only seconds before the vote.
The same three Republicans who voted against impeachment last week were present on Tuesday. Two Democrats, Reps. Lois Frankel and Judy Chu, reportedly skipped the vote for unknown reasons, according to the New York Times. Should they have voted against the bill, it would have failed.
