WASHINGTON — With the return of a key Republican lawmaker who cast the deciding vote, the U.S. House voted Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Georgia’s delegation split along party lines with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed. The final vote was 214-213.
Georgia Republican lawmakers applauded passage of the impeachment resolution, saying they blame Mayorkas for a flood of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Impeaching DHS Secretary Mayorkas was not a choice, it was a constitutional duty,” Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simon Island, said in a statement after the vote.
Rep. Rick Allen, an Augusta Republican, said in a news release that Mayorkas was impeached “for his dereliction of duty and blatant refusal to enforce the laws passed by Congress.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said previously that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would serve as one of 11 impeachment managers if there is a trial in the Senate. However, it is unclear if there will be.
The Senate could take procedural maneuvers that kill the impeachment effort without formal proceedings. Even if there is a trial, it is unlikely Mayorkas will be removed from office since Democrats hold the majority.
The first bid to impeach Mayorkas failed last week in what was essentially a tie vote. U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was absent undergoing treatment for cancer. Upon his return Tuesday, he backed the measure to give the GOP its one-vote margin.
Mayorkas is the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876, when Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached over a kickback scheme.
The Mayorkas resolution, sponsored by Greene, cites two charges: “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.”
Democrats have said the House vote to impeach Mayorkas was fueled by partisanship and directed by former President Donald Trump, who was impeached twice.
“History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games,” President Joe Biden said in a statement after the vote.
Greene, one of Trump’s most fervent backers in Congress, said the evidence was clear that Mayorkas has failed at his job. She urged the Senate to move forward with a trial and not sidestep the issue.
“I would advise them to get well versed in the laws that he broke and understand that the people that voted them into office and the oath of office they took, swearing an oath to the American people and to our country, is the oath that they need to remember,” she said. “And they need to take this very seriously.”
HOW THEY VOTED ON H.RES. 863 (second attempt), impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
“Yes”
U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Augusta
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simon Island
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Jackson
U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-The Rock
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome
U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville
U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee
U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton
“No”
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta
U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta
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