Republicans fail to fire US Homeland Security Secretary

The House of Representatives, which is mostly led by Republicans, did not vote to remove Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas from his job. This was a very close vote, but it did not pass. The reason for the vote was because of the problems with migrants at the US-Mexico border.

Four Republicans went against their own party and voted with all Democrats in the room. They voted 216-214 to reject the measure.

Critics of President Joe Biden say Mr. Mayorkas is responsible for more people entering the US illegally at the border.

Protecting the border is becoming a major issue in the 2024 election.

Three Republicans, Ken Buck, Tom McClintjson, and Mike Gallagher, didn’t vote yes on Tuesday night.

Blake Moore from Utah changed his vote from yes to no as a procedural move.

Democratic Congressman Al Green from Texas was brought to the floor in hospital clothes to vote no, which got a lot of attention. He went to the emergency room to have an operation.

Even if the House voted in favor, Mr Mayorkas probably wouldn’t be found guilty by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, started the process to impeach someone. After the vote, she said she will try again.

“My coworkers who said no, I believe they will get feedback from the people they represent,” she said to the media outside the Capitol building.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s spokesperson, Raj Shah, wrote on social media that the Republicans will try to impeach Mr. Mayorkas again when they have enough votes.

Some Republican members of Congress said the problem won’t affect their own investigation into President Biden’s impeachment.

Signs that some party members were against voting for Mayorkas had appeared earlier in the day.

Mr McClintock said Tuesday morning that he will vote against impeachment because he thinks the articles don’t show any crime that Mayorkas did, and they also misinterpret the Constitution.

Impeachment is a way to remove a government official for doing something really bad. It is in the US Constitution.

It needs more than half of the House and more than two-thirds of the Senate to pass. The Democrats are in charge of the Senate right now.

In 1876, the Secretary of War William Belknap was the last cabinet secretary to be impeached, but he quit his job just before the vote.

A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security said that the impeachment is baseless and should not have progressed. Both Democrats and Republicans oppose it, and legal experts say it goes against the constitution.

She said that if House Republicans really care about protecting the border, they should stop playing political games.

House Republicans had two meetings in January and accused Mr. Mayorkas of not enforcing immigration rules and lying to lawmakers about the safety of the southern border.

The secretary did not speak at the hearings.

Before the vote on Tuesday, Democrat Jim McGovern from Massachusetts said that Republicans wanted to make things chaotic, confusing, and create a problem for Donald Trump in the next election.

Republican Chip Roy of Texas said that Mr. Mayorkas did not enforce immigration laws properly, which led to the deaths of American citizens and migrants.

In January, a survey by CBS and the media US partner found that 63% of Americans think the country should have stricter border policies.

Over 63 million people came into the US without permission since Mr. Biden became president in 2021.

Around 24 million people came to the US and most of them are waiting for a court date to ask for asylum. The system is very busy and this could take many years.

This week, a group of US senators from both parties proposed a new law to make borders stronger and help Ukraine and Israel more.

House Republicans said no to the bill.

Right after the impeachment vote on Tuesday, the House looked at a different bill from the Republicans. This bill would have given $17. 6 billion to Israel, but it also did not pass.