Feb. 6 (UPI) — The Republican-led House failed Tuesday to get the votes to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over immigration at the U.S. border with Mexico.
The GOP, which has a three-vote majority in the House, voted 214 to 216 against articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. Four Republicans sided with Democrats to oppose removing the Homeland Security secretary from office.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., who voted against impeachment, argued that while he is no fan of Mayorkas and his handling of the border, his actions do not reach the bar of “high crimes and misdemeanors” as set forth by the Constitution.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., also voted against impeachment, calling the border crisis a “policy disagreement.”
“The failure of the Biden administration to rein in an open border is a national disgrace and will be a stain on his presidential legacy,” McClintock wrote in a 10-page memo. “However, the truth is that this is a policy disagreement masked as impeachment.”
Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin also voted “no,” as did Rep. Blake Moore of Utah in a last-minute procedural move, allowing the legislation to be brought back to the floor at a later date.
“We’ll bring it back. The guy deserves to be impeached,” Homeland Security Chair Mark Green, R-Tenn., told reporters.
Some Republican lawmakers vowed to revisit impeachment as soon as Wednesday when Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is undergoing blood cancer treatment, could return to work.
Despite any future House votes, Mayorkas still faces little chance of being removed with the Democrats controlling the Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be needed to remove him from the Cabinet post.
Democrats in the House and Senate have stood firmly behind him.
The House Homeland Security Committee laid out the GOP’s case against Mayorkas by approving two articles of impeachment — one that accuses him of a “willful and systematic refusal” to comply with immigration laws and a breach of public trust.
The Democrats countered that the Republicans are arguing over policy differences and have not provided evidence that would meet the high crimes and misdemeanor standard.
“Instead of pursuing a bipartisan compromise, instead of strengthening the security of our border, advancing humane solutions and doing their jobs, they’re now impeaching the secretary of Homeland Security without a single allegation of any impeachable crime. Not one,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., said in a speech from the House floor, before Tuesday’s vote.
The move to impeach comes as a group of Democrats and Republicans have hammered out a bipartisan immigration proposal.
That plan, which is tied to aid for Ukraine, has been opposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and criticized by former President Donald Trump as not going far enough.
On Monday, President Joe Biden blasted opposition to the border bill and blamed former President Donald Trump for “weaponizing the issue.”