A member of US President Joe Biden's government suffered a setback in parliament.
Republican elected officials in the House of Representatives, the lower house, indicted Alejandro Mayorkas, Minister of Immigration, on Tuesday.
He will therefore go through a trial in the Senate.
What is he accused of?
Alejandro Mayorkas is accused by elected officials of the Republican Party, opposed to Joe Biden's Democratic Party, of having caused a crisis on the border between the United States and Mexico.
“He is the chief architect of the catastrophe,” accused Mike Johnson, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, who decided on the fate of the 64-year-old minister early in the evening.
Republicans with very anti-immigration rhetoric, most of them close to former President Donald Trump, candidate for a new term, criticize the Democratic president for having allowed the country to be “invaded”.
As proof, they point to the record number of migrants arrested at the border, 302,000 in December.
Immigration has established itself as one of the key subjects of the campaign for the presidential election in November, which will in all likelihood pit Joe Biden against Donald Trump.
Alejandro Mayorkas, for his part, rejected the Republicans' accusations, accusing them of "wasting precious time and taxpayers' money" with the impeachment procedure.
Can Alejandro Mayorkas be found guilty?
This is the first time in nearly 150 years that Congress, the American parliament, has decided on such a sanction against a minister.
But his dismissal remains largely unlikely, the Democratic Party having a majority in the Senate.
The last indictment of a minister by Congress dates back to… 1876. The Minister of War, William Belknap, accused of corruption, resigned before the end of the impeachment procedure.
Joe Biden reacted to the indictment of his minister by denouncing a “blatant act of political politics which targeted an honorable servant of the State”.
“Instead of organizing charades like this, Republicans who really care about the border should ask Congress for more resources and to strengthen border security,” lambasted the 81-year-old head of state.
Democratic elected officials also brush aside the procedure, accusing the Republicans of making the minister a scapegoat in the middle of an election year.
A humiliating ballot then a vote with just one vote
Conservatives already tried to indict Alejandro Mayorkas in early February.
But they missed by a handful of votes, in a humiliating vote.
On February 2, the Republican general staff thought they had a sufficient number of votes to win this vote, but were taken by surprise by the surprise arrival in the chamber of a Democratic elected official, Al Green, who was convalescing in due to abdominal surgery.
The elected official from Arizona came in a wheelchair during the vote, barefoot and in hospital clothes, ultimately tipping the scales in favor of the Democrats.
Tuesday evening, three Republican parliamentarians indicated before the vote that they would vote against, considering the sanction largely disproportionate.
Republicans could not afford one more defection, given the razor-thin majority they have in the House.
The “impeachment”, the English name for this procedure, was finally adopted by 214 votes to 213.
The last word in the Senate
The US Constitution provides that Congress can impeach the president, a minister or federal judges for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors”.
The procedure takes place in two stages.
First, the House of Representatives votes, by a simple majority, on articles of indictment detailing the facts with which the minister is accused, the “impeachment”.
This vote therefore took place on Tuesday evening.
The Republicans having this time succeeded in their bet, the Senate, the upper house of Congress, will put the minister on trial.
At the end of the debates, the 100 senators will vote on each article.
A two-thirds majority is required to convict, in which case dismissal is automatic and without appeal.
Otherwise, Alejandro Mayorkas will be acquitted.
As the Senate is in the hands of the Democrats, the dismissal of the minister is very unlikely.