Pablo Scarpellini Los Angeles
The Angels
Updated Wednesday, February 14, 2024-20:01
The political storm is brewing in Washington. The Republican bench managed to carry out, on the second attempt and by a single vote difference,
a political trial
against a member of the Government that
had not occurred in a century and a half
of American history. The House of Representatives voted this Tuesday, by 214 votes in favor and 213 against,
to submit to an
impeachment process
to the Secretary of Homeland Security,
Alejandro Mayorkas
, for his alleged
mismanagement of the border with Mexico
after a record year in the number of illegal crossings through that border crossing.
The Republican majority accuses him of violating "public trust" and of systematically and "deliberately" opposing "complying with the law." However, the process has
little sign of prospering
once it
reaches the Senate on February 26
, a chamber
controlled by Democrats
and which gave the green light to $95 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel last Tuesday.
The measure is extraordinary, not only because it had only occurred on one previous occasion with William Belknap in 1876, the Secretary of War under President Ulysses Grant, but because Mayorkas is
not accused of corruption or any personal crime
. The charges, in this case, have to do with a certain type of policy on the border that
has not given the expected results
, a decision that threatens to further lower the bar of requirements to propose impeachment.
The reaction of the US president, Joe Biden, was immediate. "History will not look favorably on House Republicans for their
blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship
that has targeted an honorable public servant to engage in petty political games," said the president, knowing that the crisis on the border will be one of the political weapons that Republicans wield in the face of the presidential elections in November.
Expulsion of George Santos
Mike Johnson
, the speaker of the Republican majority in the Lower House, not only faced the issue of
impeachment
in his appearance the following day, but also the embarrassing
loss of a seat in the House of Representatives
after the
expulsion of George Santos
, the Republican congressman. accused of fraud and campaign finance violations. Democrat Tom Suozzi, congressman from New York, won a special election that reduces the majority of Republicans in the Lower House and injects a necessary dose of morale to progressives heading into November.
"Last night's result is not something, in my view, that Democrats should celebrate too much," Johnson said. "His candidate won with a Republican speech, talking about the border and immigration." However, the internal tension among the conservatives is evident, with an exchange of accusations between those who voted in favor of expelling Santos and those who opposed that has not ceased in recent hours.