Secretary of Homeland Security
US House of Representatives votes to impeach Mayorkas
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is an enemy of many Republicans. photo
© Nathan Howard/AP/dpa
The US Republicans want to drive the Secretary of Homeland Security out of office because of his migration policy. The first step is successful. However, it is unlikely that the Democrat will ultimately be sacked.
The result was extremely close at 214 to 213 votes. However, such an impeachment process would have to be conducted and decided in the Senate, where the Democrats have a narrow majority and some Republicans have also expressed doubts about the efforts against Mayorkas. It is therefore likely that the Senate will reject the request – and that there will be no impeachment proceedings.
Last week, the Republicans in the House of Representatives had already tried to organize such a vote against the minister, but failed because individual Republican members also voted against it. Now several parliamentarians were missing from the vote. The necessary majority of votes cast was slightly smaller and was achieved this time.
Allegation: Mayorkas has lost control of border protection
The Secretary of Homeland Security is an enemy of many Republicans. They accuse him and President Joe Biden’s Democrats of having lost control of protecting the US southern border in view of the large number of immigrants. With regard to migration and border security, the Republicans accuse the Cuban-born minister of deliberately and systematically refusing to comply with applicable law. In addition, the 64-year-old knowingly provided false information and placed his political preferences above compliance with the law.
The Democrats, on the other hand, accuse the Republicans of a purely party-politically motivated maneuver. The Department of Homeland Security, the White House and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate sharply criticized the vote as a political stunt without any basis. The issue of migration has been a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans for years and is also playing a major role in the current presidential election campaign.