This time yes. The second time was the charm, with a single voice. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives narrowly managed to agree to their old goal of impeaching one of their great archenemies in the Biden administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It is, above all, a political gesture that will have no consequences for the person in charge of American immigration. The initiative must now be sent to the Senate, where it has no chance of success due to the Democratic Party's control of that institution.
A total of 214 Republican lawmakers voted to punish Mayorkas for neglecting his duty to protect the border and violating the public's trust in him by making false statements to Congress. Another 213, the entire Democratic caucus and the three Republicans who joined them in last week's vote, opposed it.
It is the first time in 150 years that members of Congress have voted to open impeachment proceedings or a political trial against a member of the government. The US Constitution provides for this possibility in cases of high treason or equally serious crimes.
The consultation was in doubt until the last moment because the snowstorm in the northeast of the United States caused delays and cancellations of flights and trains. Republicans only have a majority of seven representatives, and any absence or last-minute change of mind could mean a slip-up. They were all thinking about last week's fiasco, when a miscalculation of the “yeses” they were counting on led them to rush a vote that they ended up losing because three of their own voted against.
This Tuesday, the “number two” of the Republican caucus, Steve Scalise, who took a leave of absence last week to treat his cancer, joined the ranks of those in favor of punishing Mayorkas.
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