WASHINGTON — The House is expected to vote again on an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after an attempt by Republicans this week fell short.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., on Friday indicated that the second impeachment vote would come on Tuesday night. Mayorkas survived the first attempt in a 214-216 vote this week.
Republicans are seeking to oust Mayorkas over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.
All Democrats and three Republicans — Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin — voted against impeachment on Tuesday. Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, the vice chair of the GOP conference, also rejected the measure, but only to allow Republicans to bring up the bill again under procedural rules.
Scalise is expected to return to Washington next week after undergoing treatment for blood cancer. His absence was among the reasons Republicans fell short in Tuesday’s vote.
With Scalise’s support, and if all members are present and voting, House Republicans can afford to lose three votes on the impeachment resolution. The absence of any GOP members could put passage in jeopardy.
Republicans are also facing the possibility that Democrats could soon gain a House seat by winning the special election in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which is taking place Tuesday. The seat opened up when former Rep. George Santos was expelled in December amid a federal indictment and an Ethics Committee investigation.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Republicans have criticized the Biden administration over its handling of border security, pointing to record illegal migrant crossings at the southwest border that reached more than 10,000 per day in December.
The House Homeland Security Committee last month voted along party lines to advance two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.
The first article accuses Mayorkas of “willfully and systemically” refusing to comply with federal immigration laws which has led to “millions” of migrants entering the country illegally and “many unlawfully remaining in the United States.”
The second article states that Mayorkas “breached the public trust” by making false statements to Congress and knowingly obstructing congressional oversight of his agency.
DHS on Friday did not comment on the upcoming vote, but in an earlier memo it criticized the impeachment effort, calling it a “farce” and “a distraction from other vital national security priorities and the work Congress should be doing to actually fix our broken immigration laws.”
The White House has stood by Mayorkas, calling the GOP impeachment effort “extreme, far-right politics” and “unconstitutional.”
Rebecca Kaplan reported from Washington, Zoë Richards reported from New York.
