House Impeaches Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Updated Feb. 14, 2024, 9:00 a.m. EST

• House members impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, making him the first sitting cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be forcibly removed. 
• Republican representatives narrowly won their second attempt at impeachment in a 214-213 vote. The House impeached Mayorkas on the articles of refusing to enforce a law that mandates the detention of migrants who do not have authorization to enter the U.S. and breaching public trust by misrepresenting the state of the border to lawmakers.
• President Biden condemned the House vote, saying:

"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."

What's the story?

• The House of Representatives GOP members attempted, and failed, to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the Biden administration's handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. 
• Speaker Mike Johnson vowed to indict Mayorkas with crimes and misdemeanors for failing to lock down the U.S.-Mexico border amid a surge of migrant crossings. The House Homeland Security Committee approved two articles that charged Mayorkas with refusing to comply with the law and breaking public trust. 
• House Republicans fell short of the votes they needed due to a small group of GOP members who opposed the effort. Democrats united in voting against the charges as well. 
• The House is expected to continue pushing the impeachment. 

The vote

• Early in the vote, House Republicans seemed to have a victory despite three nays from GOP Reps. Ken Buck (Colo.), Mike Gallagher (Wis.), and Tom McClintock (Calif.). However, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) showed up to oppose the impeachment in his hospital garb while recovering from abdominal surgery. 
• The final vote was 216-214. 

What they're saying

• McClintock said on the House floor:

"Secretary Mayorkas is guilty of maladministration of our immigration laws on a cosmic scale, but we know that's not grounds for impeachment, because the American founders specifically rejected it. [Cabinet secretaries] can be impeached for committing a crime relating to their office, but not for carrying out presidential policy. This border crisis can't be fixed by replacing one left-wing official with another."

• Others who opposed the bill argued that House GOP members attempted to turn a policy dispute into a constitutional indictment with insufficient evidence. 
• A group of three former secretaries of Homeland Security – Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano, and Jeh Johnson – criticized Republicans for focusing on an impeachment instead of passing laws to improve the border crisis. They wrote:

"Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas solves nothing and leaves our outdated immigration system exactly where it is now — broken. We urge you to set aside this groundless impeachment effort and get back to solving America's real problems."

• Mayorkas said he's prepared to defend himself if it comes to a trial, but in the meantime, he's ready to get on with his job. He said:

"I am totally focused on the work and what we need to get done. And I am not distracted by the politics." 

What's going on at the border?

• Arrests for illegal border crossings hit an all-time high in December 2023. In fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol reported 2.2 million people crossing the border illegally. 
• Experts have noted that these statistics may be skewed, as numbers from the 1990s and 2000s are considered vastly underreported. 
• The influx of migrants has overwhelmed security, causing a shutdown of the border at times. 
• House Republicans have been taking action to make immigration and border security a key election issue over the last few months, which it has become among Republican voters.

Do you support the impeachment effort?

-Jamie Epstein

(Photo credit: Flickr/U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS))