House Republicans on Tuesday introduced two articles of impeachment to the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of failing to enforce immigration laws and lying to Congress that the U.S. border was “secure.” The trial of President Biden’s top border official is expected to be canceled. ”
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.), the lead impeachment manager, delivered the articles to the Senate this afternoon, along with 10 other leaders.
“The evidence is clear: Secretary Mayorkas should be tried in the Senate for high felonies and misdemeanors. Specifically, the House of Representatives shows that Mayorkas has deliberately and systematically refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress, “We have determined that there has been a breach of trust,” Green said in a statement.
“These are serious charges, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to address them with the weight and deliberation they deserve,” he added. “The Senate has the responsibility to conduct a full trial, hear the evidence, and render a verdict.”
In an unusual sight, when Greene and her fellow impeachment managers entered, all senators were sitting at desks with copies of the article spread out in front of them.
The Department of Homeland Security chair then read the full text of the resolution against Mr. Mayorkas into the record, after which the chairs returned to the House in silence.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans expect The Democratic majority in their chamber demands a full trial and a halt to the vote to convict Mayorkas.
In a speech before the full Senate on Tuesday morning, McConnell called the accusations against Mayorkas “serious.”
“The facts of the crisis are well known,” he said. “From January 2021, [Customs and Border Protection] “More than 7.5 million illegal border crossings have been recorded at the southern border, and observers estimate there are more than 1.5 million known absconders,” he said, referring to people who evade arrest.
“House leaders will allege Secretary Mayorkas’ role in ignoring and making that crisis worse,” McConnell continued. “And as an event that carries the solemn and rare responsibility of convening an impeachment court, I intend to focus my full attention on these charges.”
“Of course, that would require senators to actually have the opportunity to conduct a trial,” he added.
The same goes for McConnell and Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana). pledged Opposes filing a case that would break 200 years of Senate precedent.
Schumer has promised to swear in 100 senators as jurors Wednesday at 1 p.m., but has not said whether he will take a procedural vote on impeachment.
“We want to address this issue as quickly as possible,” Schumer said in a floor speech Tuesday. “Impeachment should never be used to resolve policy disagreements.”
“This would set a terrible precedent for Congress,” he added. “Every time there’s a policy disagreement in the House, they send it here to tie the Senate together to have an impeachment trial? That’s an abuse of process.”
schumer supported Both impeachments of former President Donald Trump; saying In December 2019, “The American people deserve a full and fair trial by the Senate.”
But Democrats in both houses of Congress, as well as the three House Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas, all denied that Mayorkas’ conduct rose to the level of a felony or misdemeanor.
The Secretary of Homeland Security is the second Cabinet member in U.S. history to be impeached, the last being Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned in 1876 before being acquitted by the Senate on corruption charges.
