WASHINGTON – House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will send impeachment charges against Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, forcing senators to convene a trial on allegations that the Homeland Security secretary “deliberately and systematically” refused to enforce existing immigration laws. But the process may not last long.
While the Senate is required to convene a trial under impeachment rules once the charges pass through the Capitol, Democrats are expected to try to dismiss or advance the charges before arguments begin.
Most Democrats have said the GOP case against Mayorkas falls short of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” set out as a bar to impeachment in the Constitution, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., likely has enough votes to end the trial immediately if he decides to do so. The process will only begin on Wednesday.
Opening the Senate this week, Schumer said he wants to “address this issue as quickly as possible.”
“Impeachment should never be used to resolve a political disagreement,” Schumer said. “That would set a horrible precedent for Congress.”
Senators will be sworn in as jurors on Wednesday, transforming the House into the impeachment court. The Senate will then summon Mayorkas to inform him of the allegations and request a written response. He will not need to appear in the Senate at any time.
What happens after that is unclear. Impeachment rules generally allow the Senate to decide how to proceed.
Republicans argued there should be a full trial. As Johnson signed the articles on Monday, preparing to send them to Capitol Hill, he said Schumer should hold a trial to “hold fully accountable those who engineered this crisis.”
“Senator Schumer is the only impediment to accountability to the American people,” Johnson said. “According to the Constitution, the Chamber demands a trial.”
The House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the border. House Republicans charged in two articles of impeachment that Mayorkas not only refused to enforce existing law but also violated the public’s trust by lying to Congress and saying the border was secure. It was the first time in nearly 150 years that a Cabinet secretary had been impeached.
Since then, Johnson has delayed sending the articles to the Senate for weeks while both chambers finish work on government funding legislation and take a two-week recess. Johnson had said he would send them to the Senate last week, but struck again after Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to prepare.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said the Senate needs to hold a full trial where it can examine the evidence against Mayorkas and reach a final conclusion.
“This is an absolute disaster on the southern border,” Thune said. “It is a national security crisis. There needs to be accountability,” he said.
Schumer could call a vote to bring charges and end the trial as early as Wednesday. Before a vote to dismiss, however, a group of House managers — members who serve as prosecutors and are appointed by the Speaker of the House — will shepherd the articles through the Capitol and deliver the impeachment charges to be read on the Senate floor.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who is one of the impeachment managers, said earlier this month that he believes Democrats “have failed to reach the moment when it comes to ending this crisis and resolving chaos on our borders.”
“Holding an impeachment trial represents a unique opportunity to correct course,” he said.
Other impeachment managers appointed by Speaker Johnson are Michael McCaul of Texas, 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 Plfuger of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
After jurors are sworn in, Senate Republicans will likely try to raise a series of objections if Schumer calls a vote to reject or delay, an effort to protest and delay the measure. But ultimately, they cannot prevent an impeachment if a majority of Democrats have the votes.
While most Republicans oppose the quick dismissal, some have suggested they could vote with Democrats.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said last week he wasn’t sure what he would do if there was a move to end the trial. “I think it is virtually certain that there will be no conviction of someone when the constitutional test is not met,” he said.
At the same time, Romney said he wants to at least express his opinion that “Mayorkas has done a terrible job, but he is following the president’s lead and has not met the constitutional test of a high crime or misdemeanor.”
In any case, Republicans would be unable to gain the support of the two-thirds of the Senate needed to convict and remove Mayorkas from office. Democrats control the Senate, 51-49, and appear to be united against the impeachment effort. Not a single House Democrat supported him.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat facing a tough re-election bid in Ohio, called the impeachment trial a “distraction,” arguing that Republicans should instead support a bipartisan border compromise they thwarted earlier this year. .
“Instead of doing this impeachment – the first in 100 years – why aren’t we doing a bipartisan border deal?” he said.
If Democrats are unable to reject or introduce the articles, they could follow the precedent of several impeachment trials of federal judges over the last century and hold a vote to create a trial committee that would investigate the allegations. While there is sufficient precedent for this approach, Democrats may prefer to end the process altogether, especially in a presidential election year when immigration and border security are crucial issues.
If the Senate were to proceed with an impeachment trial, it would be the third in five years. Democrats impeached former President Donald Trump twice, once over his dealings with Ukraine and a second time in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. The Senate acquitted Trump both times.
In a trial, senators would be forced to sit in their seats for perhaps weeks while House impeachment managers and lawyers representing Mayorkas present their cases. The Senate can also call witnesses if it so decides, and can ask questions of both sides after opening arguments are over.
Mayorkas told reporters last week that he was not focused on Senate proceedings. In a twist, he will testify about his budget request on Tuesday to the same House committee that led the impeachment effort.
“I hope my time is not taken away from my job,” Mayorkas said.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
