The US House of Representatives voted 214-213 Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the situation at the US-Mexico border. The articles of impeachment accused Mayorkas of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration laws and a breach of public trust.

The impeachment resolution is mired in bipartisan conflict over immigration policy. It was introduced by Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)  last fall as squabbling over immigration along the southern border of the US reached a fever pitch. At the time, discontent with the immigration policies of President Joe Biden and his administration was dominating Republican primary debates and prompting southern state officials to send busloads of immigrants to sanctuary cities like Washington DC and New York City.

House Republicans alleged that Mayorkas violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by “his willful refusal to fulfill his statutory ‘’duty to control and guard the boundaries and borders of the United States against the illegal entry of aliens’’ as required in the act. The articles submitted to the House also claim that Mayorkas made false statements and obstructed oversight of the Department of Homeland Security “to obfuscate the results of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”

Taylor-Greene (R-GA) celebrated Mayorkas’ impeachment on X (formerly Twitter), saying she is “[p]roud of our Republican conference for working together to stand with the American people to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for his blatant violation of our border laws.”

However, President Joe Biden issued a statement of his own. The president claimed, “History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games.” He added, “Congress needs to act to give me, Secretary Mayorkas, and my administration the tools and resources needed to address the situation at the border.”

Previously, the House rejected articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in a 214-216 vote last Wednesday.

Mayorkas will now face trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required to remove him from his position.