House Republicans didn’t impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas | EUROtoday

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House Republicans have didn’t impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Four Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting down the impeachment effort, with the ultimate tally being 216 to 214. Republican Reps Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock of California voted in opposition to the measure.

Utah Republican Rep Blake Moore modified his vote from sure to no, in all probability to permit the chamber to rethink the measure at a later date below House guidelines.

The final time a cupboard official was impeached was in 1876 – 148 years in the past. Mr Mayorkas confronted accusations that he didn’t implement the present legal guidelines governing immigration into the US and that he obstructed a House Republican probe into the insurance policies of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As the Democrats management the Senate, any conviction of Mr Mayorkas was at all times unlikely.

Republican Florida Rep Anna Paulina Luna advised The Independent simply because the vote got here in that “it’s gonna come back up next week and it’s gonna pass then”. She went on to notice that Republican Rep Steve Scalise was absent as he’s receiving most cancers remedy and that his help would enable the invoice to move.

She additionally requested if it was value it to expel former Republican New York Rep George Santos, which additional restricted the already slim majority for the House Republicans.

Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene advised The Independent, “We’re bringing it back next week. Democrats maxed out their votes. That is as many no votes as they had. But we were still missing Steve Scalise and we can bring this back to the floor for another vote”.

She added that she thinks the Republicans who voted in opposition to the impeachment will “hear from their constituents and hopefully maybe they change their mind over the weekend”.

Mr Buck advised The Independent that he thinks the measure will move on Wednesday with Mr Scalise again within the chamber.

“I think you have the vote because there are a lot of Americans who are very upset, frustrated, mad about what’s happening. And so the vote was to let them know we hear them,” he stated, however he added, “I think it’s improper to have an impeachment vote on a messaging bill”.

Mr Mayorkas is in control of border enforcement in addition to immigration insurance policies such because the asylum course of along with the doable detention of migrants. As such, many Republicans view him because the prime goal for his or her frustration on the fast rise of border crossings. But they’ve struggled to offer proof that Mr Mayorkas was responsible of excessive crimes and misdemeanours – the constitutional normal for impeachment.

Democratic Texas Rep Gregorio Casar advised The Independent after the vote that “it’s sad that there aren’t even more people that are willing to stand up to the Marjorie Taylor Greene faction of the party”.

He added that House Republicans aren’t “even pretending to have anything impeachable”.

“I think we should actually just be surprised that this isn’t even a thing,” he stated.

Republican Rep Dan Meuser advised The Independent that “Mayorkas has performed many impeachable offences. And it doesn’t make any sense – the border is a disaster. People are dying … because this guy won’t enforce the laws that exist”.

“Now it’s Joe Biden’s fault. He calls the shots, but … if he had any honour he’d resign,” he added.

The White House has lengthy panned the GOP-led impeachment effort in opposition to Mr Mayorkas as unserious and with out authorized or constitutional advantage, with aides to Mr Biden pointing to a latest Washington Post op-ed denouncing the proceedings as one thing that will “debase the House, not secure the border”.

Even the Office of Management and Budget weighed in with an official Statement of Administration Policy in opposition to the impeachment decision stating that the Biden administration “strongly opposes” the measure as a result of it “clearly fails to meet the Constitution’s threshold for impeachable offenses” and misuses the House’s energy of impeachment “as a device for members of an opposing political party to harass Executive Branch officials over policy disputes”.

The funds workplace described Mr Mayorkas as “a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States with his family as political refugees” who “has spent more than two decades serving his country with honour and integrity in a decorated career in law enforcement and public service”.

“From his time in the Justice Department as a US Attorney to his service as Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of Homeland Security, he has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our Nation great. Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border,” it stated.

The OMB assertion additionally stated the House’s “purported grounds for impeachment have no basis in law or fact,” including later that impeaching Mr Mayorkas would “trivialise this solemn constitutional power and invite more partisan abuse of this authority in the future” and “do nothing to solve the challenges we face in securing our Nation’s borders, nor … provide the funding the President has repeatedly requested for more Border Patrol agents, immigration judges, and cutting-edge tools to detect and stop fentanyl at the border”.

The impeachment comes after House Republicans roundly rejected a bipartisan settlement negotiated within the Senate that will put in place further border safety measures in addition to restrictions to authorized immigration in trade for help to Ukraine and Israel, in addition to cash for different nationwide safety priorities.

Rep Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who represents a border district, advised The Independent earlier than the vote that Republicans are “saying that they want to impeach him for not doing his job, but at the same time, they’re rejecting a border bill that would secure the border”.

Connecticut Democratic Rep Rosa DeLauro advised The Independent that the impeachment vote was a “political stunt”.

“There’s no grounds … there are no high crimes and misdemeanors. So it’s just partisan politics,” she added.

“This is what this crowd is about … they can’t govern. They are not willing to govern … they’re incapable of doing it. And it’s nothing about a bipartisan vote … in terms of dealing with the border and coming to a conclusion. They said they wanted one, the Senate produced one and then they said, ‘Oh, no, we don’t want it’,” she added.

Mr Casar stated: “I think that this should be an important lesson for Democrats that we aren’t actually negotiating with good faith partners on the Republican side on immigration issues.”

He added {that a} decade in the past, congressional leaders may have made a distinction on immigration points, however that now “we’re like a world away from that kind of conversation”.

“The idea that anything in that, in that so-called Senate deal was going to actually reduce the flow of migration, it’s just wrong on his face in the first place, but the entire foundation of that so-called negotiation was flawed from the beginning, just like this entire Mayorkas impeachment has been flawed from the beginning,” Mr Casar argued when chatting with The Independent on Tuesday evening.

“I hope that the only good thing that could come out of the last few months and those failed negotiations is maybe we actually sit down and have a serious conversation about what’s happening in the Western Hemisphere,” he added.

Congress has to approve funding for brand new programmes and insurance policies that shut present gaps within the system, a few of which had been addressed by the bipartisan proposal rejected by House Republicans, who seem like utilizing the impeachment course of to maintain the give attention to up to now unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing of each President Joe Biden and Mr Mayorkas.

The impeachment proceedings in opposition to Mr Biden have equally didn’t unearth any main allegations of wrongdoing by the president.

The base of the Republican social gathering is strongly motivated by the problem of immigration, with Democrats and independents additionally rating it pretty excessive amongst points they care about, in line with latest polling.

Democrats have argued that the impeachment course of is politically motivated and an try to distract from former President Donald Trump’s authorized issues.

Ahead of the impeachment vote, numerous Republicans shared their frustration with the method.

“They’re taking a fast track to using impeachment without doing their homework,” North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis advised The Hill late final month.

Mr McClintock wrote in a letter on Tuesday that he wouldn’t again the impeachment of Mr Mayorkas, asking: “Do Republicans really wish to establish an expansive view of impeachment that will surely be turned against conservatives on the Supreme Court or a future Republican president if Congress changes hands?”