The Republicans in charge of the House have decided to accuse the Homeland Security Secretary, Mr. Mayorkas, of doing a bad job managing the borders.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2024, the U.S. House decided to charge Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Republicans, who have more members in the House, wanted to penalize the Biden government for how they’re dealing with the border between the U.S. and Mexico. They tried to do this last week but didn’t succeed, which was embarrassing for them.

The evening vote was really close. The Republicans, who have only a small advantage, couldn’t afford to have many members not vote or switch sides because the Democrats were strongly against impeaching Mr. Mayorkas. He’s the first Cabinet secretary to face charges in almost 150 years, which makes this situation very important historically.

In a big move, the House charged Mr. Mayorkas with a vote of 214 to 213. Majority Leader Steve Scalise came back to help the Republicans after being away for cancer treatment, and even though some others couldn’t make it because of a storm in the Northeast, the Republicans managed to get enough votes, even though some of their own members disagreed.

The Republicans’ small-minded political maneuvers

After the vote, President Joe Biden released a statement. He said, “The history books won’t be nice to House Republicans. They’ve unfairly targeted a good public servant just to play selfish political games, which goes against the Constitution.”

The Republican attempt to impeach Mr. Mayorkas over how he dealt with the border problems has started to seem like they’re really desperate for a win, as they struggle to push through their own goals.

Mr. Mayorkas is facing two charges of impeachment from the Homeland Security Committee. They argue that he didn’t properly enforce immigration laws and that he lied to Congress by saying the border was safe.

However, people who don’t support the impeachment say that these charges are really just disagreements over Mr. Biden’s border policy. They don’t think they’re serious enough to meet the high standard for impeachment set by the Constitution.

Initially, the House was looking into impeaching President Joe Biden because of his son’s business dealings. But they shifted their focus to Mr. Mayorkas after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a supporter of former President Trump, pushed for it. This happened after months of investigation by the committee.

Now, the charges against Mr. Mayorkas would need to be decided by the Senate in a trial. But both Democratic and Republican senators haven’t shown much interest in the matter, so it might just get put on hold indefinitely by a committee.

Deportation

Border security has become a big deal in political campaigns. Donald Trump, who’s leading among Republicans running for president, says he’ll kick out more immigrants than ever if he becomes president again.

Some House Republicans are making plans to start sending back immigrants who were allowed into the U.S. temporarily under President Biden’s rules, while they’re waiting to see if they can stay.

Trump said we have to do this, speaking strongly at a rally in South Carolina.

But Speaker Johnson rejected a plan from both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate about border security. Republicans also have their own plan, but it’s not getting support in the Senate.

Last week, three Republican representatives didn’t support impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, even though their party wanted it. Some smart conservative experts say impeaching him isn’t right and is just wasting time. Johnson, with a small majority in the House, could only afford to lose a few votes.

Republicans don’t just want to impeach Mr. Mayorkas; they want to impeach a bunch of other Biden administration officials too.

It’s been almost 150 years since a Cabinet secretary was impeached. The last time was during President Ulysses S. Grant’s time.

Mr. Mayorkas didn’t show up to testify during the impeachment talks. He blames Congress for not updating immigration laws during a time when lots of people are moving around the world.

Republicans say the Biden administration could use their powers, like Trump did, to stop people from crossing the border. But sometimes the courts stop those plans.

The vote last week to impeach Mr. Mayorkas didn’t go as expected. It was a big surprise in the House, which has been having a lot of problems lately since they changed speakers.

One of the Republicans who didn’t support impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, Rep. Mike Gallagher, decided not to run for re-election. Others are also leaving, which is worrying for Republicans.

During the vote, Rep. Al Green, who was in the hospital, came to the House to vote against impeaching Mr. Mayorkas, which made the vote end in a tie and fail.

Republicans are hoping to win a special election in New York to get more support, but they’re not sure how it will go.

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