Republican elected officials in the American House of Representatives indicted, Tuesday, February 13, Alejandro Mayorkas, President Joe Biden’s minister in charge of immigration, with the aim of dismissing him, accusing him of having caused a migration crisis in the border between the United States and Mexico.
This is the first time in almost one hundred and fifty years that the Chamber has decided on such a sanction against a minister. Alejandro Mayorkas, 64, narrowly escaped this charge a week ago.
“He is the chief architect of the catastrophe”, accused Republican Mike Johnson, the leader of the House of Representatives before the vote which passed by one vote (214 to 213). Joe Biden immediately denounced this indictment. “History will not kindly remember House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional politicking that targeted an honorable servant of the state.”wrote the American president in a press release from the White House.
“Political maneuvering”
Given the Democratic majority in the Senate, the chances that Alejandro Mayorkas – whose official role is Minister of Homeland Security – will be removed from office following these impeachment proceedings are extremely low. But the situation nonetheless remains a headache for Joe Biden, less than nine months before the presidential election.
“Instead of organizing charades like this, Republicans who actually care about the border should ask Congress for more resources and stronger border security », blasted Joe Biden.
Republicans, most of them close to former President Donald Trump, accuse the Democratic president of letting the country be ” to invade “taking as an example the record number of migrants arrested at the border, 302,000 in December.
The Democrats brush aside this procedure, accusing the Republicans of making the minister a scapegoat in the middle of an election year. Immigration has emerged as one of the key issues in the campaign for the November presidential election, which will in all likelihood pit President Joe Biden against his Republican rival Donald Trump.
The main person concerned, Alejandro Mayorkas, has repeatedly rejected the impeachment procedure of the Republicans, accusing them of “wasting valuable time and taxpayers’ money” in “political maneuver”.
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The last indictment of a minister by Congress dates back to 1876. The secretary of war, William Belknap, accused of corruption, had resigned before the end of the impeachment procedure.
For the Senate to put the minister on trial
The Constitution provides that Congress can impeach the president, a minister or federal judges in the event of “treason, corruption or other major crimes and misdemeanors”. Alejandro Mayorkas faces two articles of impeachment, which allege that the minister “deliberately and systematically” refused to enforce existing immigration laws and that he betrayed the public trust by lying to Congress and claiming the border was secure.
The procedure takes place in two stages. First, the House of Representatives voted on Tuesday, by a simple majority, articles of indictment detailing the facts with which the minister is accused: this is “impeachment” in English. On February 2, the Republican general staff thought they had a sufficient number of votes to win this vote, but they were taken by surprise by the surprise arrival in the chamber of a Democratic elected official, Al Green, who was still recovering. due to abdominal surgery. The elected official from Arizona arrived in a wheelchair in the middle of the vote, barefoot and in hospital clothes, ultimately tipping the scales in favor of the Democrats.
Tuesday, while three Republican parliamentarians had indicated before the vote that they would vote against, considering the sanction largely disproportionate, it was notably the return of the leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Steve Scalise, which made it possible to tilt the scales towards the Grand Old Party. The Louisiana representative was away from Washington for health reasons, and a storm in the northeast of the country had also blocked other Republican representatives during the previous vote.
Since the Republican maneuver has succeeded this time, it is up to the Senate, the upper house of Congress, to now put the minister on trial. At the end of the debates, the hundred senators will vote on each article. A two-thirds majority is required to convict, in which case dismissal is automatic and without appeal. Otherwise, Alejandro Mayorkas will be acquitted.