The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted against impeaching Democratic President Joe Biden's top border official, Alejandro Mayorkas.
This debate was expected to be close, and it proved to be. In the end, three Republicans sided with Democrats, resulting in a 216-214 vote in favor of the Secretary of Homeland Security.
Mayorkas has come under fire from Republican lawmakers who have called for Democrats to impeach him for illegally crossing the U.S. southern border.
A chaotic scene in the hospital
Given the unanimity of Democratic opposition, the Republican majority was under pressure to secure near-unanimous support to pass the impeachment resolution.
Earlier, the vote was at one point deadlocked 215-215, causing confusion in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, one of the main organizers of the impeachment vote, and other Republicans surrounded Republican Mike Gallagher, who refused to change his vote.
Tom McClintock, one of the Republican holdouts, said the charges “fail to identify an impeachable crime committed by Mr. Mayorkas.”
Fellow Republican traitor Ken Buck wrote in a recent op-ed: “The Biden administration's failure to rein in open borders is a national disgrace and will be a stain on the president's legacy.” said. “But the truth is this is a policy disagreement cloaked in the name of impeachment.”
Democrats call the vote a political stunt
Impeachment would result in a Senate trial, but Mayorkas was expected to be acquitted by the Democratic-controlled chamber.
The Republican move, criticized as a political stunt by Democrats, highlights deep policy disagreements over border security in an election year.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg called the vote “baseless” and said if House Republicans are “serious about border security, they should abandon these political games.” .
Incidentally, the impeachment vote came as Mr. Mayorkas was negotiating a bipartisan border security policy in the Senate. The policy is considered one of the most ambitious immigration reforms in recent years.
The bill will be voted on in the Senate on Wednesday, but is expected to fail due to Republican opposition.
Immigration is a big political issue
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday's vote was a ploy to appease Trump and called it “chaos and confusion.”
Former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump, has made immigration a major political platform as he prepares for an expected rematch with President Joe Biden in November.
With record numbers of people arriving at the U.S. southern border, and nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants apprehended per day in December, the topic is sure to continue to be a hot topic.
ss/jsi (AFP, AP, Reuters)
