Eight House Republicans sided with Democrats in shelving a resolution that would have allowed for Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to be considered for impeachment over his failure to secure the southern border.
The Monday-evening vote focused on a Democratic motion to table, or suspend consideration of, Mayorkas’s potential impeachment, not yet regarding whether he would be impeached. With a final vote of 209–201, the House ultimately decided to refer the impeachment resolution to the Homeland Security Committee. The move blocks the motion from coming to the floor for a vote and shields lawmakers from directly weighing in on the issue.
The eight Republicans who dissented from their party were Representatives Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Tom McClintock (Calif.), John Duarte (Calif.), Virginia Foxx (Va.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Cliff Bentz (Ore.), Ken Buck (Colo.), and Mike Turner (Ohio).
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) introduced the motion on Thursday to impeach Mayorkas for failing to “maintain operational control of the border” and mitigate the national migrant crisis since 2021. She filed it as a privileged resolution, meaning the House was required to vote on the matter within two legislative days. This marks the second time Greene has brought forward articles of impeachment against the DHS chief this year, the first time being in May.
The impeachment vote comes on the same day that Homeland Security Committee Republicans released their findings on the financial costs of the southern border crisis under the Biden administration.
Greene criticized the congressional committee on the House floor, contending it has been delaying her impeachment effort. “We have been waiting for regular order for six months, and the committee of jurisdiction in Congress has failed to act. My articles of impeachment sit collecting dust with the others while Americans die every single day,” she said Monday.
The Georgia Republican posted a video to X shortly after the vote, slamming her partisan colleagues for “protecting” Mayorkas.
8 Republicans just joined Democrats to KILL my Articles of Impeachment against Mayorkas https://t.co/DYCLubvjJH
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 14, 2023
Most Republicans, including majority whip Tom Emmer (R., Minn.) who openly endorsed Greene’s call for impeachment over the weekend, supported the motion, but the small GOP minority prevented it from moving forward. Duarte told reporters last week that he wasn’t interested in pursuing “these peripheral impeachments.”
“If we impeach anybody, it’s going to be up to [Representative James Comer (R., Ky.)] and the Judiciary Committee to decide that he’s ready to move the impeachment inquiry to a full impeachment on President Biden,” he said, signaling his opposition to Greene’s second round of impeachment resolutions.
Despite the unmitigated migrant crisis, the federal department asserts that Mayorkas has not failed his duties as a cabinet secretary.
“While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg previously said. “Instead of continuing their reckless impeachment charades and attacks on law enforcement, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix.”