House impeaches Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

While House Republicans only just succeeded Tuesday in their effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, they have been investigating his handling of the border since they reclaimed the House majority in 2022.

Momentum to plot a swift impeachment of Mayorkas picked up steam last month as key swing-district Republicans expressed openness to the idea amid a recent surge of migrant crossings at the southern border.

Border authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the US-Mexico border in December, marking the highest monthly total recorded since 2000, according to preliminary Homeland Security statistics shared with CNN. And in fiscal year 2022, according to the Department of Homeland Security, 1.4 million individuals who were encountered at the border were removed, which is more than in any previous year.

The border crisis has galvanized Republicans, unifying their party for more aggressive action on an issue central to the 2024 campaign, and a handful of the eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to scuttle an effort to impeach Mayorkas in November 2023 recently signaled they’d back impeaching him if it went through the committee process, which happened late last month.

Moderate Republicans, including ones in districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020, also signaled more willingness to impeach Mayorkas than the president – a sign of the shifting political terrain on the issue.

While House Republicans have sought to use Mayorkas’ impeachment to address their issues with Biden’s handling of the border, the GOP also helped to tank – along with Donald Trump – a major bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package that would have marked a tough change to immigration law championed by one of the Senate’s most conservative members. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill would be dead on arrival in his chamber, even if it ever made it out of the Senate.

Mayorkas wrote in a letter in advance of the vote that “the problems with our broken and outdated immigration system are not new” and called on Congress to help provide a legislative solution to the “historically divisive issue.”

CNN’s Melanie Zanona, Manu Raju and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer boards an elevator at the US Capitol on February 12 in Washington, DC. 

The Senate is unlikely to spend much time on the impeachment trial of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, sources in the chamber told CNN.

It remains to be seen how Democrats plan to deal with the charges procedurally, but they could dismiss them on a simple majority vote before each side argues its case.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said in a statement that House impeachment managers “will present the articles of impeachment to the Senate following the state work period. Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray will preside.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise talks to reporters as he walks through Statuary Hall immediately after the House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the US Capitol on February 13, in Washington, DC. 

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who returned to the US Capitol today for the first time since undergoing his stem cell transplant as he battles multiple myeloma, told reporters that the Senate should take the House’s impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “seriously.”

It is unclear if the Senate will hold a trial or even consider the impeachment of Mayorkas when they return from their recess. Asked when the House would send over the articles, Scalise said they “want to do it quickly.”

Last week, when the House GOP’s first attempt to impeach Mayorkas failed, Scalise was the only member absent. His recovery and return to Washington, DC, gave them the margin they needed to impeach the secretary tonight.

What Senate leaders are saying: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the impeachment of Mayorkas “a new low for House Republicans,” arguing in a statement, “the one and only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump.”

This image from House Television shows House Speaker Mike Johnson banging the gavel after he announced the House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the US Capitol on Tuesday in Washington.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas needed to be impeached because he refused to do his job.

Johnson accused Mayorkas of undermining the public’s trust “through multiple false statements to Congress.” He also said the homeland security secretary “obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security, and violated his oath of office.”

Constitutional experts have said the evidence does not reach that high bar of impeachment and three Republicans voted with Democrats against the resolution.

It is unlikely Mayorkas will be charged in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the chamber’s Democrats are still weighing how to respond to the impeachment.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference at a US Border Patrol station on January 8 in Eagle Pass, Texas.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security defended the secretary and said that House Republicans will be “remembered by history for trampling on the Constitution for political gain rather than working to solve the serious challenges at our border.”

The GOP-led House voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday evening after the resolution failed last week.

Spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement that Mayorkas will continue working “to keep Americans safe.”

President Joe Biden speaks during the annual House Democrats 2024 Issues Conference on February 8, in Leesburg, Virginia. 

President Joe Biden slammed the vote by Republican lawmakers to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The vote was a “blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship” and he called on Congress to pass legislation to address the situation at the border.

Rep. Ken Buck chats with staff before doing another television interview on the House side of the US Capitol on February 6 in Washington, DC.

Republican Rep. Ken Buck voted against the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week — and did so again tonight.

Buck said he did not reconsider his vote because he does not believe that the circumstance qualifies as a high crime and misdemeanor.

Buck reiterated that impeachments need to be “broadly bipartisan” and criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson speaker for bringing it to the floor anyway, twice. He said moves like impeaching Mayorkas are going to cause Republicans to “further lose our credibility with the American public.”

“What happens when a leadership caters to the unserious, the serious leave and that’s a huge problem in this place,” Buck said.

Along with Buck, Republican Reps. Mike Gallagher and Tom McClintock also voted against the measure.

Now that the GOP-controlled House has passed a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the next steps will be determined by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

The Senate can generally make its own rules on how to deal with impeachment trials, including simply voting to dismiss it altogether, since the Democrats currently control the chamber 51-49, CNN’s Manu Raju told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. The vote tally was 214 to 213 with three Republicans siding with Democrats. 

Ken Buck, Tom McClintock, and Mike Gallagher.

The House has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a vote of 214 to 213. 

These three Republicans voted with Democrats against the measure:

House Speaker Mike Johnson announces the vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has passed.

The GOP-led House has voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

The vote tally was 214 to 213. Three Republicans voted with Democrats against the measure. 

This comes after House Republicans failed to impeach Mayorkas in a vote last week. The absence of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and the surprise attendance by Texas Democrat Al Green, who had just had surgery and was wheeled into the chamber to vote, denied Republicans the votes to pass when it came up previously. 

House Republicans claim Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors for his handling of the southern border, even though several constitutional experts have said the evidence does not reach that high bar.

The impeachment effort comes as House Republicans have faced building pressure from their base to hold the Biden administration accountable on a key campaign issue: the border.

What happens next: It is highly unlikely that Mayorkas will be charged in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Democrats are still weighing how to respond on Mayorkas’ impeachment: to Move ahead with a trial, or move to dismiss it quickly given their view that it’s blatantly political.

Here’s a breakdown of the vote:

The House is now voting on a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

This is the second attempt by House GOP members to impeach Mayorkas after suffering a massive and public defeat when a similar vote failed last week.

If approved, Mayorkas would become the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

House Majority Leader Tom Emmer speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on February 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. 

GOP Whip Tom Emmer projected confidence that the Republican conference will have the votes to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

“We have the votes,” he said.

Earlier, CNN reported that Republican leaders are confident that they will have the votes to pass the resolution, according to sources.

More background: If approved, Mayorkas would become the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. Also, even if the resolution passes, it is highly unlikely that Mayorkas will be charged in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

President Joe Biden’s Homeland Security secretary is accused of committing high crimes and misdemeanors in his handling of the southern border, even though constitutional experts have said the evidence does not reach that high bar.

Rep. Steve Scalise speaks during an interview with CNN on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, in Washington, DC.

The House majority leader is defending Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to hold last week’s failed vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, telling CNN in an interview the vote was a “tough judgment call” and that it may have helped lock in GOP lawmakers on the fence.

Scalise missed last week’s impeachment vote which failed in an embarrassing defeat, 214-216, with three House Republicans voting against it. But the majority leader is back in Washington on Tuesday and in “complete remission” following successful stem cell treatment for a form of blood cancer.

The vote is happening on the same night that New York is holding a special election to replace expelled former Republican Rep. George Santos, giving Democrats the opportunity to make the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House even tighter.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference in January.

If House Republicans can muster the simple majority of votes they need to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, it will be an unprecedented moment in US history.

While there was one previous Cabinet official to be impeached by the House, the circumstances of that scandal, featuring Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, are so different as to defy comparison, except in one way: Belknap was acquitted by the Senate as Mayorkas almost certainly would be.

Belknap was impeached for corrupt kickbacks: The most important difference between Belknap and Mayorkas is the purpose of their respective impeachment cases.

As everyone should remember from the two impeachments and Senate acquittals of former President Donald Trump, the Constitution’s impeachment clause allows for the removal of a federal official from office and bars that individual from office in the future for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Belknap served during the so-called Gilded Age of US politics, and his crime was the corrupt financing of an extravagant lifestyle in the nation’s capital. He took kickbacks from a person he appointed to lead a trading post in Oklahoma.

GOP is targeting Mayorkas’ policy: The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, on the other hand, outline policy differences rather than corruption, bribery or another crime. Republicans disagree with the administration’s approach at the border and argue that Mayorkas is not enforcing the laws.

Read more on how unusual this impeachment is

The House GOP’s renewed attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday night hinges on the potential absences in the chamber.

Due to snow impacting regions of the US, members in both parties could miss the vote — impacting the vote count.

GOP leadership is expected to hold a vote on another matter first in the 6:30 p.m. ET vote series to gauge the absences, Republican sources said.

If there are too many absences, Republicans will consider delaying the vote — a risky move given the outcome of the New York special election could affect the vote total if it is delayed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson walks through Statuary Hall as lawmakers gather in the House chamber to vote on the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on February 6.

The House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failed on February 6, a stunning blow to House Republicans who had pushed the effort as a key political goal.

The House vote was 214-216. Three Republicans, Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher and California Rep. Tom McClintock, joined the Democrats in voting against the resolution.

GOP Rep. Blake Moore joined the “no” side to allow the House GOP to bring up the vote again.

Even though House Republicans suffered a massive defeat, GOP leaders said they planned to bring up the vote again.

House Homeland Security chairman Mark Green framed the failed vote as merely a delay in the process and said the House would vote when Majority Leader Steve Scalise returns from receiving cancer treatments.

Given the narrow margins, Republicans could only afford to lose a handful of votes – and a surprise move by Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas to return from surgery to vote changed the margins at the 11th hour to make it impossible for Republicans to garner enough support.

Green was wheeled onto the House floor at the last minute with no shoes to vote against impeaching Mayorkas, a shocking loss for Republicans, sources told CNN.

Even Republicans acknowledged that Democrats waiting to reveal Green’s presence was well played.

Here’s how each House member voted last week on the impeachment.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who has been out receiving treatments for cancer, is expected to return today.

The House will bring back up articles of impeachment for Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, according to the floor schedule, as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is expected to return and deliver the necessary votes to get the effort over the finish line.

The resolution failed last week in an embarrassing defeat, with three House Republicans voting against it. But GOP leaders are confident they’ll have enough support when Scalise — who has been out receiving treatments for cancer — comes back.

The Tuesday vote timing is notable because it comes ahead of a special election to fill the seat vacated by Rep. George Santos, which could reduce the GOP’s thin margins even further if Democrats flip the seat.

So Republicans are eager to push this through as soon as possible. But, given how tenuous the majority is, nothing is certain.

Tom Suozzi and Mazi Pilip.

The special election to replace former Rep. George Santos in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, an emerging battleground that could serve as a bellwether for other suburbs this fall, appears to be headed for a neck-and-neck finish after two months of campaigning bolstered by millions in outside spending.

The district, which encompasses Nassau County on Long Island and northeast Queens, is largely well-educated and affluent — the kind of place Democrats now expect to win — but because of its ideological diversity, a recent trend toward the GOP and a deeply rooted county Republican Party machine, it has become a true Election Day wild card.

Tuesday’s outcome could provide lessons for both parties as the general election season nears and both the presidential contest and the race for control of the House are expected to turn, in large part, on the views of suburban voters.

In the near term, victory for Democrat Tom Suozzi, who previously represented the district in Congress after running Nassau County for most of the 2000s, would provide a lift for President Joe Biden — who won the district by 8 points in 2020 — and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn, who will likely need the seat if he’s to become speaker next year.

Victory for Republican Mazi Pilip, a largely unknown county legislator from Great Neck, would signal the potential for more GOP gains across the country — and provide some comfort to a slate of freshmen GOP House members from New York who will be defending their seats in November.

As House Republicans aim to garner enough support to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Tuesday evening, eyes will also be on the special election in case the resolution to impeach is delayed. If a Democrat wins, then the GOP majority in the House will reduce further.

Read more about the New York special election.