Rep. Eli Crane helps advance impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas: What happens now?

Republican House lawmakers pushed forward with an effort to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as members of the GOP-led Homeland Security Committee voted to send two articles of impeachment to the full House floor early Wednesday.

Freshman Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., was among them.

"Proud to rep #AZ02 on this committee," Crane wrote on social media following the vote. "Willingly exposing Americans to unnecessary threats through an open border deserves immediate removal. Let’s get it done."

The vote took place after midnight EDT on Wednesday, ending a lengthy and contentious meeting in which the panel's Republicans slammed the Biden administration's handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats on the same panel decried the process as a political "sham."

The articles passed out of committee in a vote along party lines.

Next up is a vote on the House floor, with a simple majority needed to pass. If that happens, which is likely given Republicans' narrow control of the chamber, the Senate then holds a trial. But, it is highly unlikely that a two-thirds majority of the Democratic-held Senate would move to convict Mayorkas.

The impeachment resolution accuses Mayorkas of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and "breach of public trust" over President Joe Biden’s administration's handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The resolution comes despite a growing consensus among legal scholars that Republicans have yet to put forward evidence that Mayorkas has committed an impeachable offense.

Jonathan Turley, a conservative commentator and legal scholar, has argued that Republicans’ objections are based on a “disagreement on policy” and do not meet the constitutional requirements for removing a Cabinet member.

“I don’t think they have established any of those bases for impeachment,” Turley said Monday on Fox News. “The fact is, impeachment is not for being a bad Cabinet member or even a bad person. It is a very narrow standard.”

If successful, the move would make Mayorkas only the second Cabinet member in American history to be impeached. The first was William Belknap, the U.S. Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant. Belknap was impeached in 1876.

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Reach her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alejandro Mayorkas impeachment: Here's what happens next