The GOP-led House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, with most Republicans determined to punish the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border after last week's politically embarrassing failure.

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The evening's roll call was tight, with Speaker Mike Johnson's GOP majority failing to overcome many defectors or absentees despite a staunch Democratic opposition to impeaching Mayorkas, the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

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In a historic rebuke, the House impeached Mallorcas 214-213. With Majority Leader Steve Scalise returning from Washington for cancer treatment and a Northeast storm to boost GOP numbers, Republicans bounced back despite divisions within their ranks.

President Joe Biden called it “a blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship targeting a respected public servant to play petty political games.”

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The charges against Mayorkas will be sent to the Senate for trial, but neither Democratic nor Republican senators have expressed interest in the matter, and it could be held up in committee indefinitely. The Senate is expected to take up articles of impeachment from the House when it returns to session on February 26.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the case against Mayorkas “a sham impeachment” and “a new low for House Republicans.”

In a frenzy of House vote-counting, the GOP's impeachment of Majorca over its handling of the southern border has fueled political desperation as Republicans scramble to push through their priorities.

Mallorca's National Security Committee faces two articles of impeachment, alleging that it “deliberately and systematically” refused to enforce existing immigration laws and that it violated the public's trust by lying to Congress about the border being secure.

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But critics of the impeachment effort argue that the charges against Mayorkas are a political dispute over Biden's border strategy and do not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors under the Constitution.

The House initially launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son's business dealings, but instead turned its attention to Majorca after Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, an ally of former President Donald Trump, moved the debate forward. .

Green, who serves as the impeachment manager for the potential Senate trial, hugged Scalise and posed for photos with other lawmakers. He said senators should “focus on the American people and their feelings, and then they should read our articles of impeachment.”

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Border security has risen to the top of the campaign trail, with Republican presidential nominee Trump saying he would launch “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if he retakes the White House.

Various House Republicans have drafted legislation to begin deporting migrants temporarily admitted to the U.S. under the Biden administration's policy, many of whom are awaiting resolution of asylum claims.

“We have no choice,” Trump said at a weekend rally in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Johnson rejected a bipartisan Senate border security package, but was unable to advance his own proposal from Senate Republicans, who are leading the initiative.

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The three Republicans who impeached Mallorca last week — Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California — all did so again Tuesday. With a 219-212 majority, Johnson had a narrow margin.

Several leading conservative scholars and former Homeland Secretaries from both Republican and Democratic administrations have argued that impeachment of Majorca is unwarranted or a waste of time.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said Republicans' “success undermines and taints the constitutional meaning of impeachment.”

But Scalise told reporters after the vote, “This sends a message that we will not sit by while the secretary of homeland security fails to do his job to keep our homeland safe.”

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Mayorkas is not the only Biden administration official that House Republicans want to impeach. They have passed legislation to impeach a long list, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Never before had a cabinet secretary been impeached, and nearly 150 years ago, the House impeached President Ulysses S. Voted to impeach Grant's Secretary of War William Belknap over a kickback scheme in government contracts. He resigned before the vote.

Mayorkas, who did not testify before the impeachment trial, blamed the border crisis on Congress for failing to update immigration laws amid global migration.

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“There is no doubt that we have a problem, a crisis at the border,” Mayorkas said on NBC over the weekend. “There's no question that Congress should fix it.”

Johnson and Republicans have pushed back, arguing that the Biden administration could take executive action to stem the number of crossings like Trump's, but courts have reversed some of those efforts.

“We always look at what options are legally allowed,” Mayorkas said.

Last week's failed impeachment vote against Mayorkas — a rare surprise outcome on such a high-profile issue — was a stunning sight amid months of GOP chaos since the previous House speaker was ousted.

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Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was hospitalized for emergency abdominal surgery at the time, made a surprise appearance and entered the chamber in scrubs and socks to vote against it, tying the vote and causing it to fail.

“Obviously, when you can make a difference, you feel better,” Greene said, describing her painful journey from her hospital bed to her home floor. “All I have done is what I was elected to do, and that has been to give my voice to the issues of our time using the best judgment I have.”

Gallagher, a Republican who served as a Marine, announced over the weekend that he would not seek re-election in the fall, joining a growing list of serious Republican lawmakers headed for retirement.

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