This post was last updated on August 11th, 2024 at 12:11 am
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday night, a stunning defeat for the Republican-led push to impeach a Biden administration Cabinet secretary.
All Democrats and four Republicans voted 214-216 against the two articles of impeachment.
The GOP lawmakers to vote against impeachment were Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Blake Moore of Utah.
Republicans had for weeks pressed to impeach Mayorkas, saying he violated immigration enforcement laws. Democrats decried the unusual move as politically motivated ahead of the November elections.
“Secretary Mayorkas has explicitly refused to comply with the law,” said the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green of Tennessee, who has presided over impeachment efforts. “If your refusal to obey the law leads to the death of your fellow citizens, you no longer deserve to keep your job.”
Green has often blamed Mayorkas for the overdose deaths of Americans from fentanyl opioids that are smuggled across the southern border.
Republicans charged that Mayorkas has failed to uphold immigration law and has broken public trust.
Democrats argued the Republican criticisms did not reach the constitutional requirement for impeachment, but amounted to gripes over the Biden administration’s policies at the southern border.
The White House said in a statement that the Biden administration opposed the resolution, first introduced by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia.
“Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border,” the White House said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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