Alejandro Mayorkas arrived on Capitol Hill to attend a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee the hours before the House is set to send articles of impeachment against him to the Senate.
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas for were passed in February and have been kept in limbo for months as the House has prioritized legislation for government funding, foreign aid and TikTok divesture.
Mayorkas arrived just before 10:00 a.m. for a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee on why his agency requires $108 billion in funding for the 2025 fiscal year, House Republicans will be readying the articles for delivery to the Senate.
‘You abolished working policies, and following the statements of your boss on his campaign trial—promises to improperly grant asylum to anyone who came,’ Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., said in his opening remarks.
‘As a result, people from all over the world tested the system, came and were released, phoned home, and the mass waves began.’
‘With this increased demand, the cartels took advantage, regulated that flow to overwhelm the crossing sites at our border.’
‘Your refusal to follow those laws is contemptible,’ Green added.
Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas’ future in the position is unclear as the House has passed articles of impeachment against the man in charge of U.S. border security but the Democrat-held Senate is likely to acquit the charges against him
In response, the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., praised Mayorkas’ performance handling the U.S.-Mexico border.
‘Through it all, Secretary Mayorkas has remained steadfast.’
‘He continues to do his job across the Department’s many critical homeland security missions, including border security and immigration enforcement.’
Mayorkas ‘has used the full range of authorities at his disposal and stretched the resources provided by Congress to secure the border,’ Thompson continued.
In a testy exchange, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., lashed out at Mayorkas telling him ‘This is not funny Mr. Secretary,’ before adding ‘misdemeaning the office and high authority that has been entrusted’ in him as Homeland Security secretary is reprehensible.
Still, the plan, as it stands, is for the 11 impeachment managers and several House employees to physically deliver the articles to the upper chamber at 2:00 p.m.
On Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson signed the articles of impeachment against the border boss, teeing them up for a delivery.
‘The catastrophe at the southern border is the number one issue for the American people,’ Johnson said in a statement Monday. ‘We must hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.’
‘While it will force him to grapple with the crisis his party and the President have created, Senator Schumer must hold a public trial on Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment.’
‘Pursuant to the Constitution, the House demands a trial,’ the speaker continued.
How the Senate decides to handle the articles, however, remains up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
There are many routes the Schumer could take in addressing the articles, including a trial, but the leader has yet to reveal how he wants to move forward.
Nonetheless, the Senate is expected to be sworn in as jurors for Mayorkas’ impeachment on Wednesday.
And GOP senators previously said they would try to invoke points of order to set the ground rules for the impeachment, but whether they are recognized by the Democrat-held chamber is unlikely.
Speaker Mike Johnson signs the articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas on Monday. Johnson has claimed about 9 million migrants have been encountered illegally crossing into U.S. under Mayorkas’ tenure
Republicans charge that Mayorkas has intentionally loosened restrictions around illegal immigration under the orders of President Joe Biden
How did we get here? Mayorkas impeachment timeline:
The Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee has been investigating Mayorkas’ mishandling of the U.S. border since last summer.
The committee released a five-installment report spanning from July 2023 to December 2023.
In January, Chairman Green released an impeachment resolution with two individual charges against Mayorkas.
The impeachment articles said that Mayorkas ‘refused to comply with Federal immigration laws’ amid a record surge of migrants and that he has ‘breached the public trust’ in his claims to Congress that the US-Mexico border is secure.
After a late night vote passing the articles out of the committee on January 31, the resolution was teed up for a vote on the House floor.
A week later, the House voted 216-214 on the impeachment articles and the Republican-backed motion failed.
But a week later, on February 13, the House tried again and the articles of impeachment passed by a single vote.
‘Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment—the first of a sitting Cabinet official in U.S. history—indicates how seriously the House takes his refusal to comply with the law and his breach of the public trust,’ Green told DailyMail.com in a statement.
‘This historic vote followed a thorough, fair, comprehensive, and nearly year-long investigation conducted by the House Committee on Homeland Security into Secretary Mayorkas and his handling of the unprecedented border crisis.’
‘The Framers of our Constitution gave Congress this grave authority when public officials choose to ignore the law and inflict grave harm on our constitutional order. The Democrat-led Senate must hold the trial, render a verdict, and hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable,’ Green added.
Republicans say that Mayorkas has incentivized migrant to come across the U.S. border illegally because DHS has lessened penalties for doing so
A number of asylum seekers await transportation from Custom and Border Protection. In recent months thousands of migrants from China have crossed into the U.S. illegally
Following the passage of the articles in the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office released a statement indicating that the articles would be promptly acted upon after the following a in-district work period.
But as that time came and went the House did not send the Senate the articles, instead working for weeks on massive funding packages to keep the government from a partial shutdown.
After another at home work period for Easter recess, Speaker Johnson and his appointed impeachment managers sent a letter to Schumer on March 28 informing him they would walk the articles to the Senate on April 10.
On April 9, however, a group of GOP Senators led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, John Kennedy, R-La., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., held a press conference advocating for the House to hold off sending the articles.
The 11th-hour plea for delaying was because the Republicans knew if the articles were delivered on schedule – Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. – the Senate would have little motivation to have a long trial as many had planned to fly out of D.C. by Thursday.
‘Many House and Senate members think Johnson’s timing is dumb, because a Wednesday night delivery [and] Thursday afternoon floor fight aren’t enough time to win the news cycle and to hammer the fight in Washington,’ a senior Senate aide told DailyMail.com Tuesday.
Later that evening, Speaker Johnson agreed to the Senator’s request and held off on sending the articles.
A spokesperson for Speaker Johnson said that ‘to ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.’
‘There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,’ Taylor Haulsee told DailyMail.com.
A source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com that the House is expected to deliver the articles to the Senate on Tuesday, April 16.
The U.S.-Mexico border is an inhospitable place where migrants who cross illegally regularly need immediate medical attention after their dangerous journeys
What will happen this week?
The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas will be physically walked across the Capitol from the House to the Senate on Tuesday by the Johnson-appointed impeachment managers.
The procession from the House to the Senate will be led by House staff workers and will also feature the eleven impeachment managers following behind them.
The last time the impeachment ceremony took place was in January 2021, when former President Donald Trump was impeached by the House for high crimes and misdemeanors related to his behavior on January 6.
Once over on the Senate side the House employees are expected to enter the upper chamber and present the articles to the senator presiding over the floor.
Delivery of the articles immediately begins the process in the Senate.
‘As busy as we are, one issue the Senate will soon have to address is the House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,’ Schumer said Wednesday after Johnson agreed to delaying the articles’ transmission.
‘Our plan over here has not changed: the Senate is ready to go whenever the House is. We want to address this issue as expeditiously as possible.’
‘And as I said yesterday, impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That sets an awful precedent.’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not revealed what he plans to do with the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, requested Johnson delay sending the articles of impeachment to allow the Senate more time to deliberate the motion
Schumer stating that the Senate will work quickly on the matter without providing further detail shows how closely he is holding his cards to his chest.
Will Democrats move to quash the trial for Mayorkas?
He has several routes forward upon receiving the articles.
First, he could put the articles up for an immediate vote, which could and likely would result in the Democrats voting to table the motion, meaning there would be no impeachment trial in the Senate and Mayorkas would be cleared of wrongdoing.
Democrats control the Senate by a slim majority of 51-49, but some Republicans have indicated that they would vote to dismiss because there is no path forward for a trial.
Second, he could proceed by swearing in the Senate as jurors in the case, which would then enable the House impeachment managers to argue their case against Mayorkas before the upper chamber.
After hearing the case, the Senate would then vote on the articles.
Schumer’s third option is to send the articles into committee for review.
The special committee would then investigate the articles of impeachment and would later provide recommendations for how the Senate should move forward.
In that case, the Senate floor would not be jammed up with impeachment proceedings, allowing them to legislate on other matters while simultaneously addressing Mayorkas’ impeachment.
Still, how Schumer wants to move forward is remains to be seen.
Senate Republicans are hoping for a full trial as they argue it is the Senate’s Constitutional duty.
But as the Senate is controlled by Democrats, it appears unlikely Schumer will decide to move forward in that matter.