Republicans’ Plot to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas Flops
Mother JonesFeb 07
US House Votes Against Impeaching Mayorkas
The Facts
The US House on Tuesday voted 214-216 against a Republican-led effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the southern border, as a handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats.
The four Republicans who voted against the proposal were Reps. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), and Blake Moore (R-Utah), who voted no as a procedural move so that the GOP could bring the resolution back to the floor at a future date.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Democrats and legal experts tried to warn Republicans that this political stunt would fail, but they still went forward with their baseless vote. Republicans claim they want to secure the border, but they're intent on removing the man in charge of doing so and have attacked him since he first took office. Now House Republicans must adjust to the humiliating defeat they've brought on themselves.
Republican narrative
Were it not for a few turncoats, this Republican effort to hold Mayorkas responsible for his criminal indifference to the crisis at the border would've passed. Mayorkas has failed bureaucratically and he must be removed from office. In the near future, all Republicans will be available to vote, and — despite the efforts of Democrats and a couple of unfortunate GOP outliers — this measure will pass and Mayorkas will be held to account.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that the rate of immigration enforcement in the US in 2024, as a percentage of removals to encounters, will be at least 6.2%, according to the Metaculus prediction community.