House Republicans fail to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in dramatic 216-214 vote

House Republicans fell short Tuesday night of impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on charges of “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration law and lying to Congress about the border being “secure.”

The resolution affirming two articles of impeachment against President Biden’s chief border enforcement officer failed almost along party lines — but with four Republicans crucially joining all 212 Democrats to vote against the resolution and the remaining 214 GOPers voting to impeach the 64-year-old DHS chief.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was the only absentee from the vote, as he continues to undergo treatment for blood cancer. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) returned just in time for the vote following a mid-January car accident and was seen wearing a neck brace on the House floor.

Mayorkas would have been just the second Cabinet official ever to be impeached — and the first since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876, who resigned while facing allegations of corruption.

Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) initially joined with the Democrats in opposing impeachment, with the pro-Mayorkas forces helped by a surprise appearance from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who had missed earlier votes due to surgery and arrived shortly before the vote in a wheelchair.

With the vote count even at 215-215 — meaning the resolution was on course to fail — Democratic lawmakers heckled their Republican colleagues with cries of “order” as the clock ticked down.