House Republicans' push to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is in jeopardy after a party lawmaker said his vote will be a "solid" no.
Concretely, Colorado Rep. Ken Buck said that, based on consultations on "constitutional experts" and "former members," he won't support the initiative. "(They) agree that this just isn't an impeachable offense."
Buck added that, in his view, Mayorkas' handling of the surge in immigration in the southern border is "terrible," but that doesn't make him guilty of the high crimes and misdemeanors included in the articles of impeachment.
Every Republican holdout counts, as the party can only afford to lose two votes given its slim majority in the House and some potential absences from the chamber at the time of the vote. If House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is currently receiving cancer treatment, returns to Washington before the vote, Republicans will be able to afford losing three votes.
However, at least three other Republicans have shown uncertainty regarding their vote. One is Representative Tom McClintock, who also criticized Mayorkas but argued his actions don't meet the criteria for impeachment.
Another one is Dave Joyce, who, according to NBC News, is reviewing materials from the Homeland Security Committee. And, finally, Dan Newhouse previously told reporters that he was waiting to see the conclusions from the Homeland Security Committee.
The committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to recommend two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, a move that The Associated Press described as a "rare charge against a Cabinet official unseen in nearly 150 years." The vote on the House could take place as soon as next week.
At the center of the efforts is the implementation of a series of family reunification parole programs, which allowed some foreign nationals to wait in the U.S. for immigration visas. The allegation says Mayorkas should have used those resources to detain people crossing the border illegally.
The first article against the Secretary claims he displayed a "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law," and the second that he breached public trust by having "knowingly made false statements, and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security."
The second article argues that Mayorkas knowingly made false statements to Congress by saying that the border was secure and that he obstructed oversight.
Mayorkas, on his end, pushed back on the allegations with a letter, saying he has already testified before the committee seven times and is being ignored after offering to do so again.
Mayorkas also said that he should be working with the Biden administration to overhaul the country's "broken and outdated" immigration laws to adapt to an era of record migration. "We need a legislative solution and only Congress can provide it," Mayorkas wrote.
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