WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today on Capitol Hill, House Republicans delivered articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate.
In February, Mayorkas, the top immigration official in the U.S., became the second cabinet official in U.S. history to be impeached by the House of Representatives and the first in over 150 years.
Around 2:30 pm ET on Tuesday, the articles were hand delivered to the Senate after the House impeachment managers made the ceremonial walk from the House to the Senate.
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas accuse him of willfully and systemically refusing to comply with immigration laws enacted by Congress and breaching the public’s trust. The vote to impeach passed the House on Feb. 13 by a very narrow margin.
The partisan divide over the articles is pretty clear cut. Democrats say the Republican-led impeachment is over a policy disagreement and should not be taken seriously.
“Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D- NY).
Republicans say it is about more than a policy disagreement.
“He has willfully defied federal immigration laws, willfully defied the will of Congress, the bipartisan will of Congress, bipartisan laws that were enacted,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R- LA).
“We create legislation and pass it or turn it down. But when we pass something, it is now a law. It now moves to the executive branch to enforce that law. And at that point, it’s no longer a Republican issue, Democrat issue, it’s an issue of are you doing what you took an oath of office to do? And if you’re not, then you’re violating the oath of your office,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R- PA). “And I think that’s the critical part.”
Democrats have the majority in the Senate and are expected to either quickly dismiss the articles or conduct a speedy trial that ends without a conviction. 99 senators will be sworn in as jurors Wednesday afternoon with Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-WA) presiding over the trial.
