The United States House of Representatives has narrowly voted to question Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas after Republican politicians blamed him for unprecedented arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers on the US-Mexico border.
Mayorkas has been accused of “willfully refusing” to implement border legal guidelines and a “breach of the public trust”. This is the primary time in about 150 years {that a} cupboard secretary has been impeached. The expenses towards him will doubtless be rejected by the Democratic-majority Senate.
Here is extra about Mayorkas’s impeachment, and what’s subsequent.
Why was Mayorkas impeached?
The impeachment is the fruits of months of Republican assaults on Mayorkas and the Democratic occasion for his or her dealing with of border safety. More than six million refugees and migrants have arrived within the US since 2021, making immigration a key difficulty within the upcoming presidential election due in November.
The Republicans have accused the Biden administration of disposing of Trump’s border safety insurance policies they declare deterred migrants. They additionally level out that the Biden administration’s insurance policies have attracted migrants.
Biden administration has clashed with Governor Gregg Abbott of Texas, a border state, on the immigration difficulty. Abbott, a Republican, has been a vocal critic of Biden’s dealing with of the immigration difficulty.
On January 28, House Republicans handed two articles, accusing Mayorkas of “presid[ing] over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement” and “releasing hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into the interior of the United States”, amongst different expenses.
The secretary was deemed responsible of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that amounted to a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” on immigration and a “breach of the public trust.” They recommended that impeaching Mayorkas was the Congress’s solely viable possibility.
An try by the Republican-controlled House to question Mayorkas on February 6 failed. Tuesday’s vote was narrowly handed by 214 to 213.
What does the impeachment imply?
Impeachment is the method below which a authorities official is charged for misconduct by a legislative physique.
Only the House of Representatives can provoke an impeachment. The Senate, nevertheless, has the ability to vote down an impeachment trial.
Under the impeachment course of, Congress can cost and check out a federal official for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”. The definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors” has lengthy been contested because it has not been specified within the structure.
The House has solely ever impeached one different cupboard official – Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 – and that was over critical corruption allegations relatively than a simple coverage disagreement.
What occurs subsequent?
For now, Mayorkas continues to retain his place because the impeachment is basically symbolic.
Mayorkas will doubtless be acquitted by the Democratic-controlled Senate, with with a 51-49 majority. A two-thirds majority within the Senate is required to convict somebody. On the opposite hand, impeachment by the House calls for a easy majority.
All Republicans in addition to a considerable variety of Democrats must vote to convict Mayorkas – a extremely unlikely state of affairs.
The Senate is anticipated to obtain the articles of impeachment from the House after resuming its session on February 26. The Senate may vote to dismiss the articles, dissolve the trial, or refer the articles to a committee.
Mayorkas has stated that in case of a trial, he is able to defend himself within the Senate and that till then, he’s specializing in his job.
Who is Alejandro Mayorkas?
An immigrant himself, Mayorkas was born in Havana and arrived within the United States in 1960 after his mother and father fled the Cuban Revolution. He settled together with his household in Southern California and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. He acquired his legislation diploma from Loyola Law School in 1985.
During the administration of former President Barrack Obama, he served as deputy secretary of homeland safety and director of the citizenship and immigration providers.
As he labored below Obama, Mayorkas achieved some historic firsts. He turned the youngest US legal professional appointed by former US President Bill Clinton in 1998 and was the highest-ranking Cuban American below Obama. He additionally assisted in negotiations for the primary homeland safety memorandum of understanding between the US and Cuba.
Mayorkas was appointed by US President Joe Biden as secretary of homeland safety in 2021.
What are the reactions to his impeachment?
Biden instantly rebuked Republicans for what he termed a “blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games”.
After the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated, “Since this secretary refuses to do the job that the Senate confirmed him to do, the House must act”.
Democrats and plenty of authorized consultants contest that Mayorkas’s impeachment shouldn’t be based mostly on a problem that meets the extent of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. Instead, they argue the difficulty is for voters to resolve because it stems from a coverage dispute the place Republicans are dissatisfied with Biden’s immigration insurance policies which might be carried out through Mayorkas.
They have additional stated that it’s not Biden’s insurance policies that appeal to extra migrants to the southern border; the inflow of migrants and refugees is merely a side of a multifaceted difficulty, the place individuals are making dangerous, life-threatening escapes from rising political, financial and local weather turmoil seeking a greater life.
Twenty-five authorized consultants referred to as the push “utterly unjustified” in an open letter and have been echoed by constitutional students who’ve additionally spoken in Congress towards Donald Trump’s impeachments.
“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,” stated Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.
Ken Buck, considered one of three Republicans who voted no in final week’s vote, referred to as the transfer towards Mayorkas a “stunt” whereas fellow insurgent Mike Gallagher stated it will “pry open the Pandora’s box of perpetual impeachment”.
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