Biden’s homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas impeached: What’s next?

Alejandro Mayorkas has been impeached in the House but is likely to be acquitted in the Senate as Biden calls the move unconstitutional.

The United States House of Representatives has narrowly voted to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas after Republican politicians blamed him for unprecedented arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border.

Mayorkas has been accused of “willfully refusing” to enforce border laws and a “breach of the public trust”. This is the first time in about 150 years that a cabinet secretary has been impeached. The charges against him will likely be rejected by the Democratic-majority Senate.

Here is more about Mayorkas’s impeachment, and what’s next.

The impeachment is the culmination of months of Republican attacks on Mayorkas and the Democratic party for their handling of border security. More than six million refugees and migrants have arrived in the US since 2021, making immigration a key issue in the upcoming presidential election due in November.

The Republicans have accused the Biden administration of doing away with Trump’s border security policies they claim deterred migrants. They also point out that the Biden administration’s policies have attracted migrants.