The Republican-led House of Representatives suffered a surprising upset Tuesday after it failed to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
With a 214-216 vote, the House mostly voted along party lines, although some GOP representatives sided with the Democrats on the decision, believing there was not enough evidence to prove the secretary committed a crime worth impeaching.
"In my view, it's always a mistake to impeach a president, Cabinet official or anybody else on a party-line vote," Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told CNN.
"It is not the way we should be going when we need to solve the difficult problems that we have in this country."
The case against Mayorkas claims the Homeland secretary disregarded federal laws and rolled back Trump-era border policies resulting in a worsening crisis at the southern border.
According to Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, Customs and Border Protection has reported 8.5 million encounters at the borders and 1.8 million "gotaways" under Mayorkas' watch.
For the Democrats, however, the impeachment is seen as politically-motivated and they believe Mayorkas did not commit any high crime.
The two other Republicans who joined the Dems with a "no" vote are Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA).
The GOP-led house plans to bring the impeachment effort back once House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is back on the floor. The representative was not present for the vote as he is recovering from a recent stem cell transplant.
"House Republicans fully intend to bring Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas back to the floor when we have the votes for passage," said Raj Shah, House Speaker Mike Johnson's Deputy Chief for Communication.
