Mayorka impeachment sparks partisan battle in Senate

House impeachment managers on Tuesday formally handed down two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, setting off a battle on the Senate floor over whether to hold a full trial in the upper chamber.

It is the first time since 1876 that the House has sent impeachment charges against a Cabinet official to the Senate, according to the Senate historical office.

The senators received the leaders of the Chamber shortly after 2 pm on Tuesday, sitting at their desks, a rare formality adopted in the Upper Chamber only for the most serious occasions.

Nearly every seat in the Senate chamber was filled as the 11 chamber managers walked down the center aisle to read the well charges.

To add to the gravity of the moment, the Senate sergeant-at-arms ordered “all persons” to “remain silent under penalty of arrest” while the House prosecutors read the indictments and displayed the articles of impeachment.

Senators will be sworn in as jurors at 1 p.m. Wednesday to decide whether to hold a full trial on the Senate floor, something Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) has signaled he has not intention to do.

Schumer warned that holding a trial would set a “terrible precedent.”

“We want to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Impeachment should never be used to resolve a political difference,” he said in the plenary.

“That would set a terrible precedent for Congress. Every time there is a policy [dis]agreement in the Chamber, they send it here and tie up the Senate to hold an impeachment trial? This is absurd. This is an abuse of the process. This is more chaos,” he said.

Schumer said Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will preside over impeachment proceedings, but declined to say what exactly the Senate will do next.

Senate Republicans say they expect Schumer to introduce a motion to dismiss the charges Wednesday afternoon or evening, which would need a simple majority to pass.

But Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said bringing charges before hearing arguments and evidence would defy history and precedent.

“I intend to give these allegations my full attention,” he said. “Of course, this would require that senators actually have the opportunity to hold a trial. And that’s exactly what history and precedent dictate.”

“Never before has the Senate agreed to a motion to introduce articles of impeachment. Not to an official of either party. Not once,” he said.

He noted that every other time in history that the House has sent articles of impeachment to the Capitol, the Senate has held a trial or referred the matter to a special evidentiary committee to review the allegations in depth.

Several Senate Democrats facing competitive re-election races, including Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), have declined to say how they will vote on a motion to dismiss.

“I’m going to read the articles,” said Tester, who last week told reporters that if the impeachment charges are more than just a “political stunt,” senators “need to look at this seriously.”

If Tester or other Democrats vote against dismissing the charges, it could keep the impeachment debate alive in the Senate for days or even weeks.

Several moderate Republicans, including Senators Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Mitt Romney (Utah), questioned whether the House found clear evidence that Mayorkas committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and suggested that he merely carried out the policies of the Administration. Biden.

But in a significant development on Tuesday, Romney said he would vote against a motion to postpone the matter.

“I want to debate and discuss the articles of impeachment, whether at trial or in committee,” he said. “I don’t think there should just be a presentation without any process.”

Senate conservatives say they would view any vote to immediately dismiss the charges as a “Senate-shattering” precedent and vow to retaliate by raising procedural hurdles against routine Senate business.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a leading conservative, said he and his colleagues will try to raise 15 points of order Wednesday to protest the failure to hold a trial or send impeachment to a special committee to review it later.

The House accused Mayorkas of repeatedly violating immigration and border security laws and allowing “millions of aliens” to enter the United States illegally and remain “illegally” in the country.

They accused him of “deliberately” refusing to comply with the Immigration and Nationality Act that requires the detention of migrants who do not clearly have a right to be admitted to the country, and instead of “illegally released” migrants, without establishing mechanisms to demand your subsequent appearance at immigration. judicial removal process.

The second article of impeachment accuses Mayorkas of making false statements to Congress about the situation at the border and failing to comply with multiple congressional subpoenas.

Impeachment requires a demonstration that an official committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and several immigration law experts have said Mayorkas did not violate any statutes in carrying out the Biden administration’s immigration policies,

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called the allegations “baseless” and a waste of time.

“Despite warnings from Republican colleagues that this baseless impeachment effort ‘distorts the Constitution,’ House Republicans continue to ignore the facts and undermine the Constitution, wasting even more time on this sham Senate impeachment,” said Mia Ehrenberg, Republican Party spokesman. Department.

The House voted largely along party lines, 214 to 213, in February to approve two articles of impeachment.

Three House Republicans voted against sending the charges to the Senate and the first attempt to pass articles of impeachment in the House failed by a vote of 214 to 216.