U.S. House Republicans win impeachment of Biden's top border official

The United States House of Representatives voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday in a vote of 214-213 after a failed attempt last week.

The House approved two articles of impeachment accusing Mayorkas of not enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which Republicans argue led to record flows of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The vote marked just the second time in U.S. history, and the first time in almost 150 years, that the House has impeached a member of a president's cabinet. 

U.S. President Joe Biden called the impeachment "baseless," saying "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," according to a White House statement.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office said that senators would be sworn in as jurors shortly after they return from a break on February 26.

The Democratic-led chamber is highly unlikely, however, to vote to remove Mayorkas from office.

A record number of migrants have illegally crossed the border from Mexico since Biden took office in 2021, and former President Donald Trump has made it a major focus of his campaign against Biden.

Tuesday's vote reversed an embarrassing legislative defeat that Speaker Mike Johnson suffered last week when a similar effort fell short. Republican Representative Steve Scalise, who missed last week's vote while he received treatment for cancer, provided the deciding vote on Tuesday.

"Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and consistently refused to comply with federal immigration laws, fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history," Johnson said following the vote.

Mayorkas has said he does not bear responsibility for the border situation, blaming it instead on a broken U.S. immigration system that Congress has not been able to fix.

"Without a shred of evidence or legitimate constitutional grounds, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement.

"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," Ehrenberg added.

Constitutional experts and even some Republicans have said the House investigation of Mayorkas failed to provide evidence of the "high crimes and misdemeanors" that the U.S. Constitution cites as reasons for impeachment. Instead, they cast the fight as merely "policy disputes."

The last Cabinet secretary to be impeached was President Ulysses S. Grant's secretary of war, William Belknap, in 1876 following allegations of corruption. He was acquitted by the Senate.

(With input from agencies)