Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer affirmed Thursday that the upper chamber will convene an impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas next month, as Republicans fear the top Democrat will find a way to spike the proceedings.
Schumer (D-NY) announced the plans after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent him a letter of notification that the House will transmit two impeachment articles against Mayorkas to the Senate April 10.
“As we have said previously, after the House impeachment managers present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day,” the Brooklyn Democrat said in a statement.
“Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray [D-Wash.] will preside.”
Once the senators are sworn in, one of them could raise a motion to dismiss the case, which requires a simple majority to approve. If that happens, the trial of Mayorkas could end before it even starts.
Some Republicans have already suggested that is exactly what will happen.
“Chuck Schumer is trying to break over 200 years of Senate precedent by tabling the impeachment trial,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) complained on X last month. “This would deny the American people the chance to hear the evidence about Biden’s lawless open border policy.”
The acquittal of Mayorkas is already a forgone conclusion, with Democrats holding a 51-49 Senate majority and none inclined to cross party lines to vote to remove the DHS secretary from office.
Republicans in the House voted 214-213 to impeach Mayorkas on two counts last month after an earlier vote narrowly failed.
The articles of impeachment accuse Mayorkas of willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust.
The first article alleges that Mayorkas chose not to enforce border laws and the second accuses him of lying to Congress about the border being “secure” as well as failing to comply with document requests
“This farce of an impeachment is a distraction from other vital national security priorities and the work Congress should be doing to actually fix our broken immigration laws,” the Department of Homeland Security has said of the proceedings.
Schumer called the move against Mayorkas a “new low for House Republicans” and claimed the “only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump.”
In a Thursday letter to Schumer, Republicans insisted they deployed a “methodical approach” and that Mayorkas clearly engaged in unlawful conduct.
“The constitutional grounds for Secretary Mayorkas’ conviction and removal from office
are well-founded, and the historical record is clear,” they argued.
“[Mayorkas] directed, through a series of memoranda, employees to violate US immigration laws,” the letter. “Throughout his tenure, he has repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about the scope of the crisis and his role in it.”
“Mayorkas has violated the public trust and willfully refused to follow federal immigration laws. He deserves to be impeached and the American people demand that those responsible for the border crisis be held accountable,” Johnson said in his statement.
Congress is currently on its Easter recess, with the Senate scheduled to return April 8, and the House due back the following day.
