House Republicans Advance Doomed Bid to Impeach DHS Secretary

House Republicans have voted to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, after botching their first attempt last week. 

Despite Republicans in the lower chamber finally delivering on their long-standing promise to impeach Mayorkas, there is little chance the DHS secretary will actually be convicted by the Democrat-controlled Senate.

On Jan. 31, Republicans in the Homeland Security Committee approved articles of impeachment accusing Mayorkas of presiding “over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, at the expense of the Constitution and the security of the United States.” This came after months of stalling from House Republican leadership, who in November moved the caucus to punt the impeachment resolution to committee — and promised far-right Republicans that they would eventually get their day on the floor. 

Mayorkas called the impeachment push a “baseless waste of valuable taxpayer time” in a scathing statement released in January. He may have a point, given that even as House Republicans attempted to oust Mayorkas from his position over his alleged failures in securing the border, they simultaneously blocked a potentially transformative immigration and border reform package. They did so at the behest of Donald Trump, who feared the legislation would grant Biden a political victory in an election year. 

The first floor vote on the resolution to impeach Mayorkas failed spectacularly when the majority — which could only afford to lose two votes given several absences within the caucus — somehow bungled their whip count. Republican Reps. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, Ken Buck of Colorado, and Tom McClintock of California voted no. Democratic Texas Rep. Al Green made a last-minute appearance on the floor — clad in a hospital gown from surgery he’d had earlier in the day — to deliver the no vote that (temporarily) sealed the resolution’s fate. 

On Tuesday, Rep. McClintock reiterated that his no-vote hadn’t changed. “The Constitution has not changed since last week, so neither will my vote,” he told Newsmax. He, Gallagher, and Buck once again voted no alongside Democrats.

Absences threatened to mar the GOP’s second attempt to impeach Mayorkas, too, as a major winter storm blasted huge swaths of the Northeast and disrupted travel for representatives. Nevertheless, they pulled it off, and Mayorkas’ case will be referred to the Senate. While the Democratic leadership has yet to announce their plans, there’s little no chance Mayorkas will be removed from office — regardless of whether a Senate trial takes place.