The House of Representatives ended the impeachment attempt against the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Eight Republicans joined Democrats in supporting a motion to refer the impeachment resolution to the Homeland Security Committee, eliminating the possibility of a House vote.
The final vote was 209-201. The eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to block the measure are Cliff Bentz (OR), Ken Buck (CO), Darrell Issa (CA), Patrick McHenry (NC), Tom McClintock (CA), Virginia Foxx (NC) and Mike Turner (OH).
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene filed the motion to impeach Mayorkas last week. Being a "privileged" resolution, it forced the House to vote within the next 48 hours. The resolution accuses Secretary Mayorkas of violating a 2006 act requiring the Department of Homeland Security to maintain complete "operational control" of the border. The representative and the majority of members of the Republican Party believe that Mayorkas has not fulfilled that task.
Although after this vote, which sends the impeachment resolution to the Homeland Security Committee, the representative's motion ends, even if it had managed to pass in the House - where the Republicans have a majority - an impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas did not have a future. If it had passed in the House, it would have to go to the Senate, where Democrats have a majority, and to approve a conviction of this type, a two-thirds majority of the Senate is needed. So, in any case, the probability that Mayorkas would face impeachment was almost zero.
A disaster that cost nearly half a trillion dollars
According to a report presented this Monday by House Republicans, the immigration crisis costs taxpayers almost half a trillion dollars each year. The cost of providing medical services, education and ensuring the personnel necessary to apply the law, among many other expenses that the government must make when receiving millions of immigrants, amounts to 451 billion dollars a year, according to the report.
The situation at the border is getting worse; migrant numbers have reached record levels during the Biden Administration. Since Biden became president, border patrol has made more than 5 million arrests of illegal migrants making irregular crossings across the US-Mexico border.
In September, encounters with migrants on the southern border reached an all-time high: 260,000 encounters. September recorded the highest number of encounters with migrants in the country's history.
Added to the increase in immigration numbers and the lack of resources to manage the disaster on the border, after the attack carried out by Hamas in Israel, a war has been unleashed in the Middle East that threatens the security of the United States. Seven hundred thirty-six terrorism suspects were detained at the border during the 2023 fiscal year. Therefore, the immigration crisis has different consequences that put the country at risk and worry most Americans.
