South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson votes to impeach Mayorkas

The House voted Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, narrowly succeeding in a second vote and making Mayorkas the first sitting Cabinet secretary in nearly 150 years to be impeached.

Voting a second time for impeachment, South Dakota's lone House Rep. Dusty Johnson told the Journal Mayorkas had disregarded his oath of office to protect America.

"The Department of Homeland Security reversed that ["Remain in Mexico"] policy and that — along with dozens of other terrible decisions — and willful disregard for his duty has caused 8 million people to illegally enter this country in the last four years and for hundreds of thousands of Americans to be killed by fentanyl."

The 214-to-213 vote was tight, with three Republicans siding with all Democrats against impeachment.

Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher wrote in a Wall Street Journal piece last week the House is setting "a dangerous new precedent that would be used against future Republican administrations."

House vote to impeach Mayorkas fails in stunning defeat for Republican leaders (copy)

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

When asked about his Republican colleagues' trepidations surrounding the historic vote, Johnson chalked it up to constitutional duty, and said the unprecedented congressional response matches the unprecedented domestic crisis.

"Our country is has been less safe because of the decisions of Secretary Mayorkas," Johnson said. "That feels pretty impeachable to me."

The charges against Mayorkas will now go to the Senate for a trial, but they're likely to struggle for a two-thirds majority in the Democrat-controlled chamber