The House Impeached Mayorkas. Now What?

House lawmakers on Tuesday voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in Republicans’ second attempt to hold the official accountable for what they allege is a willful failure to handle the migrant crisis on the southern border.

The measure passed 214-213 with three Republicans and all Democrats voting against it. It’s the second time a Cabinet official has been impeached and the first time in nearly 150 years.

The House vote Tuesday coincided with a special election in New York to replace disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos. That contest’s outcome could cut into the GOP’s narrow majority and potentially have jeopardized the impeachment vote, raising the stakes further after the party’s efforts to impeach Mayorkas last week fell apart in dramatic fashion.

Republicans have accused Mayorkas of not complying with immigration law as the U.S. has been grappling with a surge of migrants at the country’s border with Mexico. In a statement after the vote, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson said the secretary “deserves to be impeached.”

“From his first day in office, Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and consistently refused to comply with federal immigration laws, fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history,” the Louisiana Republican said. “He has undermined public trust through multiple false statements to Congress, obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, and violated his oath of office.”

Democrats and immigration law experts, however, say Mayorkas’ actions do not meet the impeachment threshold of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

“House Republicans’ baseless push to impeach Secretary Mayorkas has already failed once, with bipartisan opposition,” the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a memo released Tuesday. “If Members of Congress care about our national security, they should listen to their fellow Republicans and stop wasting time on this pointless, unconstitutional impeachment – time that could be spent addressing the issue by advancing bipartisan legislation to fix our broken immigration laws and provide needed resources for border security.”

President Joe Biden also blasted House Republicans in a statement after the impeachment vote.

“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,” the president said. “We will continue pursuing real solutions to the challenges Americans face, and House Republicans have to decide whether to join us to solve the problem or keep playing politics with the border.”

The effort stands little chance in the Democrat-controlled Senate, where even GOP lawmakers haven’t expressed much enthusiasm for the idea of convicting the secretary. Ultimately, the charges likely amount to nothing more than attack fodder for the 2024 presidential campaign, which is expected to pit Mayorkas’ boss, Biden, against GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump.

The Senate needs a two-thirds vote to convict Mayorkas, and such an outcome would mean all Republicans and multiple Democrats would need to opt to convict. If the chamber does reach that threshold, Mayorkas would no longer be Homeland Security secretary.

Mayorkas, for his part, has signaled he isn’t concerned, according to The Associated Press.

“I do not lose a minute’s sleep over the impeachment,” he told the AP. “I lose minutes of sleep over the challenges that we have substantively, the challenges that we confront. And are we doing everything that we can to meet them? And am I supporting the workforce and its needs?”