House Republicans took another step toward impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has presided over the ongoing immigration crisis in the United States.

The House Homeland Security Committee, along party lines, voted in the early morning hours of Wednesday to send two articles for impeachment of Mayorkas back to the House to be voted on.

The House could vote on the impeachment resolution as early as next week. If the House passes the impeachment motion, the charges will be sent to the Senate.

Despite the fact that senior House Republicans are confident they have the backing to impeach DHS Secretary, their slim majority means they can only lose two votes. House Republicans plan to check with members to confirm that they are united this week. Tom Emmer, the Majority Whip of the House, told CNN that they would have to approve it. It’s a pretty disgusting thing he did.

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Speaker Mike Johnson promised that the House vote to impeach Mayorkas would be held “as quickly as possible.”

In the impeachment charge, Mayorkas was accused of “high crimes” and “misdemeanors,” which amounted to “a willful and systematic refusal to comply” with immigration laws and “a breach of public trust.”

The impeachment motion states that “Alejandro N. Mayorkas willfully, systemically, and systematically refused to comply with immigration laws and failed to control border security to the detriment national security and compromised public safety. He also violated the separation of powers and the rule of law in the Constitution to the manifest harm of the American people.”

It is rare to successfully impeach a cabinet secretary. In American history, it has only been done once. William Belknap was impeached by President Ulysses Grant in 1876 for corruption regarding government contracts. It is unprecedented to try and impeach a cabinet secretary for refusing uphold the laws.

Mayorkas’ impeachment is being called for amid rising concern about illegal immigration. The House GOP released data that indicated fiscal year 2023 as the most illegal border crossings ever in American history.

Over the course of Biden’s administration, over 7.5 millions enforcement encounters have taken place in the United States and there were over 6,000,000 illegal crossings. Customs and Border Protection alone seized over 27,000 pounds fentanyl during fiscal year 2023. CBP reported that it had a record number — more than 300,000 — of encounters at the border with illegal migrants in December 2023.

Since Joe Biden was elected president, 267 people whose names appeared on the terrorist watchlist were stopped from trying to cross the border. Federal officials warned, in the wake of the attacks of October 7, that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah members could use the southern border to enter the U.S.

The House’s move to impeach Mayorkas follows a controversial Supreme Court ruling on immigration enforcement. The Court granted an emergency request by the Department of Homeland Security to remove the razor-wire Texas had installed along its southern border. According to the agency, the wire endangered migrants and prevented Border Patrol agents from policing the border.

The wire was part a larger operation in Texas that aimed to reduce the number of illegal immigration into the state. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear Texas’s request to provide more permanent relief against illegal immigration next month.