House Republican impeachment managers plan to send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill. Shipping charges.
The transfer would allow the Senate to formally take up the impeachment issue against Mayorkas, which has been pending since the House approved the punishment by a vote of 214-213 in February. The senators are scheduled to be sworn in as jurors on Wednesday, with Senate President pro tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.) presiding over the chamber.
However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is still expected to quickly dismiss the charges and either proceed to the Senate or reject the article.
“We’re ready for them to go at any time. We’re sticking to our plan. We’re going to move this forward as quickly as possible,” Schumer said last week.
Tuesday’s delivery comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to delay the transmission at the request of the Conservatives in the Senate, which was postponed from last Wednesday to Tuesday. Those Republican lawmakers said they had no intention of rushing the process. Proceedings began Thursday, and lawmakers were scheduled to leave Washington that afternoon.
But the new schedule comes as the Senate races to pass a bill that would reauthorize the United States’ warrantless surveillance powers, formally known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The House passed the bill last week ahead of Friday’s deadline.
The impeachment resolution accuses Mayorkas of “deliberate and systematic refusal to comply with the law” and “violation of the public trust.”
This is an unusual approach to impeachment, requiring proof that the official committed a high crime or misdemeanor.
Immigration law experts say Mayorkas has not broken any laws in carrying out the Biden administration’s immigration policy, and conservative academics like Jonathan Turley say the House will criticize the secretary for policy differences. They are accusing them of doing so.
Many senators on both sides of the aisle were critical of the move, even as some Republicans pressured Johnson to delay sending the article in hopes of forcing the Senate to consider the issue further. was.
“Since 1797, 21 people have been impeached by the House of Representatives. All but once, the impeached judge resigned before the trial began,” the 43 people wrote in a letter to Schumer. senators called on Schumer to hold a full impeachment trial for Mayorkas.
But six critics of the effort, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), No Republican senators signed the letter.
Congress hasn’t impeached a Cabinet member since the 1870s, when a secretary of war was accused of accepting kickbacks.
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