The Democratic-majority US Senate has rejected the first impeachment charge against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his “willful and systematic failure to comply with federal immigration law.”

Democratic Majority Leader in the US Senate Chuck Schumer made a motion to reject the first article as unconstitutional. Voting ended with a result of 51 votes in favor and 48 against.

Mayorkas still faces a second indictment accusing him of “abuse of public trust” in the context of an open crisis between Democrats and Republicans over the handling of immigration issues at the state and federal level.

You might be interested > Celac culminates in supporting Mexico and rejecting Ecuador.

White House Oversight and Investigations spokesman Ian Sams previously indicated that the case against Mayorkas was “a complete waste of time that constitutional law experts have already called ‘unconstitutional.’

In February, the GOP caucus in the US House of Representatives failed in an attempt to remove the secretary of Homeland Security, who is under Republican scrutiny for his handling of immigration issues.

After years of disputes over immigration enforcement between Texas local security forces and the federal U.S. Border Patrol, the crisis came to a head after Texas forces took control of observation positions typically used by the Border Patrol to monitor migration along the Rio Grande River.

A U.S. federal appeals court suspended the controversial Texas law in March, just hours after the Supreme Court lifted the blockade. The legislation allows border security forces to arrest undocumented migrants who enter the United States from Mexico.

The measure is the latest attempt by Texas to challenge US President Joe Biden on immigration issues. Abbott has ordered tens of thousands of migrants to be bused to Democratic-run cities such as Chicago and New York.

State authorities have installed a chain of giant buoys in the Rio Grande to prevent migrants from crossing into the United States. Abbott has promoted other anti-immigration initiatives, such as installing kilometers of barbed wire at the busiest crossings or creating checkpoints. (Europe Press).