House Republicans Force Senate Trial for Mayorkas

WASHINGTON — House impeachment managers on Tuesday walked two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas across the Capitol to the Senate, forcing a trial on charges the secretary “willfully” refused to enforce immigration laws.

Moments later, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that under impeachment rules, senators will be sworn in to act as Mayorkas’ jury Wednesday afternoon.

As he delivered the articles, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, one of the GOP’s designated House impeachment managers, said Mayorkas “took an oath to protect the country from enemies both foreign and domestic, [but] for the past three years, he has repeatedly violated that oath, defied our nation’s laws and made our communities less safe.” 

McCaul later released a statement that said Schumer “must follow historical precedent and conduct a full, public trial in the Senate.”

“Texans — and all Americans — deserve nothing less,” he said.

In addition to McCaul, the House impeachment managers include Republican Reps. Mark Green of Tennessee, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Laurel Lee of Florida, August Pfluger of Texas, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

The first article of impeachment delivered to the Senate today asserts Mayorkas “has repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security.” 

His Republican accusers claim that by releasing many asylum seekers into the United States and allowing more than 1 million to enter under an authority known as parole, the secretary has routinely overstepped his authority and disregarded federal laws. 

The second impeachment article accuses Mayorkas of “knowingly making false statements to Congress and the American people and avoiding lawful oversight in order to obscure the devastating consequences of his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and carry out his statutory duties.”

While the Senate is obligated to hold a trial, it may not last long.

Schumer himself has said he wants to “address this issue as expeditiously as possible,” and Democrats in the chamber are expected to try to dismiss or table the charges before full arguments get underway.

“Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement,” Schumer said on Tuesday, adding, “That would set a horrible precedent for the Congress.”

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., earlier this week called Schumer out, calling him “the only impediment to delivering accountability for the American people.”

“The House demands a trial,” Johnson said. “We must hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.”

Once the Senate has sworn in jurors, the chamber will issue a summons to Mayorkas, informing him of the charges and asking for a written response. 

As the dramatic delivery of the charges played out, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., issued a statement in which he said, “this entire process has been a sham from the start.”

“Despite what you’ll hear from Republicans, these sham impeachment articles contain no high crimes and misdemeanors and have no basis in our Constitution,” he said.

“Republicans claimed, time and again, that impeachment was an urgent matter to address border security, but they keep proving that they have no credibility on border security issues,” Thompson continued. 

“They have waited over two months to send their sham articles of impeachment to the Senate, delaying until they thought the timing was politically advantageous,” he said. “It’s clear Republicans just wanted to have a dog-and-pony show marching to the Senate, showing yet again what deeply unserious people they are. 

“Worse yet, just last month, eight of the 11 impeachment managers voted against bipartisan government funding legislation that will fund the Department of Homeland Security and strengthen border security,” Thompson said, adding, “The Senate should move to quickly dismiss these baseless articles of impeachment so we can get back to work on pressing national security issues.”

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue