House Republicans Attempt Another Removal of Mayorkas

House Republicans will make a second attempt to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, with Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., back from cancer treatment and all their yes votes accounted for.

Last week the House vote failed by a 214-216 margin, with Majority Leader Scalise absent and three House Republicans siding with the Democrats. Presuming all representatives are present and do not alter their vote, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will attempt for the second time in two weeks to send a message to Mayorkas and the Biden administration that a change in leadership is needed.

The three Republican holdouts, Ken Buck of Colorado, Blake Moore of Utah, and Tom McClintock of California, are not expected to switch their votes this time.

Mayorkas blamed the system for the 8 million illegal crossings at the U.S. southern border since President Joe Biden took office.

“It certainly is a crisis, and we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re dealing a tremendous amount within that broken system,” Mayorkas told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “But fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix it.”

Mayorkas was referring to the inability of the Senate to pass a border security bill, which failed last week by a vote of 50 to 49. This time it was five Senate Democrats who broke ranks to aid the collapse with Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Alex Padilla of California, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York all voting “no.”

“There is no question that Congress needs to fix it, and we’re doing everything we can within that broken system short of legislation to address what is not just a challenge for the United States, but one throughout our region,” Mayorkas said.