The Senate voted to dismiss articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, the first time the chamber has exonerated a public official without holding a trial or reviewing evidence.
Democrats said the two articles against Mr. Mayorkas were mundane “policy differences” that fell short of the Constitution’s demand for high crimes and misdemeanors. Acting along party lines, they voted to dismiss both articles.
The move saved Mr. Mayorkas and President Biden from what could have been days of embarrassing details about the chaos at the southern border and legally iffy policies that the administration has used to grapple with the surge of migrants.
Republicans said the dismissal broke all precedent and dishonored the Senate and the House, which approved the two articles.
“This whole impeachment was nothing more than a political show,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
Some Republicans vowed to retaliate by miring the chamber in procedural hurdles, making it difficult to advance legislation in a chamber that runs on consent.
“Sen. Schumer and Senate Democrats just bulldozed hundreds of years of precedent to shelter one of the worst Cabinet members in history,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican. “When Joe Biden and the Democrat Party talk about threats to democracy, they need to take a good, long look in the mirror.”
Mr. Mayorkas is the first sitting Cabinet member to be impeached and is now the first to be cleared in such a fashion.
He was accused of willfully subverting immigration laws by refusing to carry out enforcement laws and breaching the public trust by lying to and obstructing Congress.
Senators dismissed the first count on a 51-48 vote, with one senator voting present. They voted 51-49 to dismiss the second count.
Mr. Mayorkas made sure to be far from Washington on Wednesday. He traveled to New York, where he announced a public relations campaign to raise awareness of online threats to children.
His department celebrated the Senate action as a vindication.
“Today’s decision by the Senate to reject House Republicans’ baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas proves definitively that there was no evidence or constitutional grounds to justify impeachment,” spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said.
The White House also cheered the Democrats’ maneuvering.
“Once and for all, the Senate has rightly voted down this baseless impeachment that even conservative legal scholars said was unconstitutional,” said Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson.
The vote and the impeachment were sideshows to the problems at the border, where Mr. Biden has overseen the worst chaos in U.S. history.
Mr. Mayorkas has delivered repeated policy resets but has avoided a full adoption of the get-tough approach that worked for President Trump, who achieved the most secure border in decades by 2020.
The border and several high-profile crimes tied to migrants caught and released on Mr. Biden’s watch have become significant political liabilities. Mr. Biden is even pondering executive action to revive some Trump-style policies to deal with the mess before the November election.
Hoping to spread some of the political blame, he has begged Congress to enact border legislation.
Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican who planned to oppose conviction, chastised Mr. Schumer for failing to respect the House, which approved the articles on a 214-213 vote in February.
“It was a mistake for Senate Democrats to set a new precedent of disposing of the Articles of Impeachment without any evaluation whatsoever,” he said.
Republicans said the House has delivered 22 impeachments and this is the first time the Senate has deemed one unconstitutional.
Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, who voted with fellow Democrats to dismiss the charges, said the real danger was cheapening impeachment.
“I voted to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas to avoid setting the dangerous precedent that this solemn process could be weaponized again against future administration officials to score cheap political points,” he said.
He said neither of the articles of impeachment constituted a crime.
Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, pointed out that part of the breach of public trust count against Mr. Mayorkas included allegations of lying to Congress, a felony.
“What do you have to do to get impeached now?” Mr. Kennedy said.
Some Republicans argued that the Constitution’s impeachment standard doesn’t require actual crimes. They pointed to a Supreme Court case last year in which several justices said impeachment is a valid tool for removing an official who refuses to carry out entrusted laws.
Many constitutional scholars said the case against Mr. Mayorkas was too weak.
Mr. Mayorkas’ impeachment is the third in the past five years, after two impeachments of Mr. Trump. The president was acquitted on both tries.
Ending impeachment is unlikely to cool Republican anger at Mr. Mayorkas. More than any other Cabinet official, the homeland security secretary irks Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Mayorkas is scheduled to be back before lawmakers on Thursday to testify to the Senate about his fiscal 2025 budget request.