The Republican-led House of Representatives against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday demanded a full trial in the Senate that is unlikely to take place in the Democratic-led Senate.
➡️ How we got here
In February about his handling of the southern US border.
It would take a two-thirds majority to convict him in the Senate, which is virtually impossible given that Democrats have dismissed the case against Mayorkas as unfounded.
Republicans allege Mayorkas deliberately failed to enforce southern border laws, which they say has led to millions of illegal border crossings.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 11 House Republicans assigned to prosecute the case against Mayorkas made the ceremonial walk through the U.S. Capitol to present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which they read aloud on the Senate floor.
📢 How did DHS respond?
Homeland Security spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg accused Republicans of “playing” and highlighted Mayorkas’ work on a bipartisan border bill in the Senate that the House Republican Party blocked.
“Secretary Mayorkas has spent months helping a bipartisan group of Senators craft a tough but fair bill that would give DHS the tools needed to meet today’s border security challenges,” Ehrenberg said in a statement . “But the same Republicans in the House of Representatives who played politics with this impeachment chose to block that bipartisan compromise.”
Mayorkas was the first Cabinet official to be ousted in nearly 150 years. The last time that happened was in 1876, when the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap for kickbacks in government contracts.
➡️ What’s next?
The Senate will meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. Senate President Pro Tem Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, will preside over the trial. At 1:00 PM ET, she and the 99 other senators will be sworn in as jurors.
But Senate Democrats have said they oppose the proposal and are expected to quickly dismiss the charges with a simple majority vote.
