A House panel’s Wednesday vote to approve articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas brings Republicans one step closer to deposing President Joe Biden’s border chief.

Shortly after midnight, the Republican-controlled committee approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas by a party-line vote of 18-15. The articles charge Mayorkas with willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and a breach of the public trust.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said on Wednesday morning that he was proud of his panel and hopeful that the entire party would move forward as the articles now go to the House Rules Committee before a floor vote, likely next week.

“I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the right thing, put aside the politics, and agree that before we can fix Secretary Mayorkas’ mess, Congress must finally hold this man accountable,” Green said.

There still remain a number of undecided Republican votes, which will be necessary given Republicans’ thread-bare majority, but impeachment has the support of the House GOP leadership team.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) celebrated the committee’s 14-hour mark-up as a “solemn but necessary step” to remove the Biden Cabinet official from office, though the effort is likely to fall apart in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“I commend the House Homeland Security Committee for conducting a thorough and exhaustive investigation into Secretary Mayorkas’ failed leadership of the department and his role in the ongoing border crisis,” Johnson said in a statement Wednesday morning. “This vote in the committee is a solemn, but necessary step to bring accountability for the American communities devastated by the effects of an open border.”

House GOP Conference Chairwoman, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, applauded Green’s committee for taking the issue up after a year spent on more than a dozen border-related hearings that examined the extent and impact of the border crisis.

“I strongly support Chairman Green and Homeland Security Committee Republicans for taking this important step to hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for willfully and systemically refusing to comply with federal immigration laws and acting in a manner subversive of the rule of law and creating the most pressing humanitarian, national security, and homeland crisis in our nation’s history,” said Stefanik. “House Republicans will continue to fight to secure the border and hold Joe Biden and his Administration accountable.”

Nonetheless, the vote has drawn sharp condemnation from House Democrats, who call the use of impeachment politically motivated. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the top Democrat on the committee, denounced Green for forcing a vote on Wednesday night despite not hearing all of the Democrats’ amendments.

“Committee Republicans abruptly shut down debate of their sham impeachment articles in the dark of night,” said Thompson. “Shutting down debate on obviously deficient – and baseless – impeachment articles is an act of cowards, plain and simple.”

Republicans have blamed Mayorkas for a crisis at the southern border, where for the past three years, Border Patrol agents have arrested more illegal immigrants than any previous time in national history. GOP lawmakers have accused Biden of inciting the influx by pledging as a candidate to undo Trump-era border initiatives, while Democrats have attributed the phenomenon to rising global migration, particularly across the Western Hemisphere.

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Since Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate in January 2021, more than 7.5 million illegal immigrants have been encountered attempting to enter the U.S., and 6 million of that figure entered illegally between ports of entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The Biden figure far exceeds the number of illegal immigrants encountered during the Trump administration’s four years and the Obama administration’s eight years combined. The large majority of immigrants are released into the U.S. and are not required to appear in court for several years.

A majority vote of the full chamber would make him the first Cabinet official to be impeached since 1876.