House Republicans are finally ready to move forward with the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that a group of Republican lawmakers would formally introduce their two articles of impeachment on April 10.
House lawmakers narrowly voted to impeach Mayorkas on February 13. They have since delayed the process amid debate over government funding and other issues.
House Republicans approved charges based on failure to enforce immigration laws and cooperate with their various investigations.
Mayorkas and the Biden administration have strongly denied any wrongdoing. Three Republicans voted against impeaching Mayorkas, arguing that the Republican Party was setting a potentially dangerous precedent by removing a Cabinet official over what could be considered policy disputes. Due to the opposition and their slim majority, the Republicans failed to impeach Mayorkas on the first try.
Johnson called on the Senate to hold a full trial against Mayorkas, who is only the second cabinet secretary in history to be impeached. Johnson is unlikely to be satisfied with the Senate’s response.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the impeachment a “sham” and “a new low for House Republicans.” Democrats, who narrowly control the Senate, could decide to quickly abandon the trial. They could also refer the issue to a special commission. Neither tactic would require a Republican vote, although some Senate Republicans have expressed discomfort with the House’s case.
If Republicans want to force a full trial, they will have to pressure Senate Democrats, facing tough re-election campaigns, to vote against a quick recall. Republicans hoped a lawsuit would give them a big platform to challenge Biden’s immigration policies before the election.
No one expects Mayorkas to be convicted, which requires two-thirds support.
Why are Republicans attacking Mayorkas?
As secretary of Homeland Security, Mayorkas oversees a broad agency that includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection. As a result, the Republican Party has attempted to make him the poster child for what it sees as the failure of Biden’s immigration policies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who recently led a Republican delegation to the border, has repeatedly said the situation is “a humanitarian disaster” with serious national security concerns. Rep. Mark Green, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, argued that Mayorkas violated his oath of office. Green went so far as to say, “Hamas can easily get in.”
Politically, Republicans also view this issue as a winning one. A CBS poll earlier this year found that views on Biden’s handling of immigration are at an all-time low. Democratic mayors and governors also complained to the White House after Republicans sent waves of migrants to their cities.
What happens next?
The 11 House Republican impeachment managers, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, will be formally escorted through the Capitol before arriving at the Senate.
According to Fox News, Schumer’s office for for senators to be officially sworn in on April 11. At that point, senators could then decide to quickly dismiss the case.
How is this different from presidential impeachments?
The biggest difference is that Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over the trial. The U.S. Constitution only requires the presence of the chief justice when the president is impeached.
Roberts did not preside over Trump’s second trial because Trump was no longer president when senators moved forward with the trial on February 9, 2021. Then-Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), then president pro tempore of the Senate, presided over the brief trial.
In that case, Leahy’s successor, Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, will preside.
What is the situation at the border?
Last year ended with an undeniable crisis at the border, a record number of encounters, 10,000 people a day along the border.
“The numbers we’re seeing right now are unprecedented,” Troy Miller, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the Washington Post.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said at the time that more than 2.3 million migrants had been released into the United States at the southern border under Biden’s watch, the Post reported. Republicans often cite the fact that more than 6 million people have been detained, a far different measure.
The situation is different now. “Arrests for illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell by half in January,” the Associated Press reported.
There is debate over how to compare Biden’s record. Politifact previously pointed out that there were some caveats in comparing the record influx under Biden with the past. Context is important, especially when comparing data from the Trump and Biden administrations, which measure “encounters” as opposed to “apprehensions.”
Immigration patterns, including who attempts to enter the United States and how often they attempt to cross the border, have also changed. As NPR has previously highlighted, the number of migrants making repeat attempts has skyrocketed. This means that when it comes to dating, a single person can be responsible for multiple encounters if they repeatedly attempt to enter the United States.
What is the White House saying?
The White House said the U.S. immigration system has been “broken for decades.” Officials have repeatedly stressed that even as Republicans attempt to impeach Mayorkas, he is working with senators from both parties on what would be the biggest change to U.S. immigration laws in years.
Biden quickly lambasted impeachment after the Feb. 13 vote.
“History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that targeted an honorable public servant to play political games,” Biden said in a statement released by the House White.
Has a Cabinet Secretary ever been impeached?
In its entire history, the House has impeached only one Cabinet secretary: former Secretary of War William Belknap during the Grant administration. Lawmakers accused Belknap of accepting bribes to fund a lavish lifestyle while living on a meager government salary. Faced with his likely ouster, the former Civil War general rushed to the White House to submit his resignation to President Ulysses S. Grant.
The House impeached Belknap anyway, although he was acquitted in a Senate trial. The gist of Belknap’s defense was that he was technically a private citizen both at the time of his indictment (in just a few minutes) and during his months-long trial. If this sounds familiar, that’s because former President Donald Trump and most Senate Republicans offered a similar defense during Trump’s trial after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
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