(WASHINGTON) — Articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, over his handling of the border, were officially transmitted to the Senate on Tuesday.
The House impeachment managers, selected by Republican leadership, walked the two articles through the Capitol led by the House clerk and sergeant-at-arms. The charges against Mayorkas will be read aloud from the Senate dais.
The procession kickstarts trial proceedings in the Senate, where lawmakers will be sworn in as jurors on Wednesday.
House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in mid-February over what they said was his failure to enforce border laws amid a surge in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The controversial vote, which had previously failed, was opposed by three Republicans and all Democrats.
The charges accuse Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” — allegations he’s called “baseless.”
A department official, defending Mayorkas, said Congress should have impeached every Homeland Security secretary since the department’s inception if detaining all migrants is a requirement of the job — and no administration has detained 100% of people suspected of crossing the border illegally.
The House impeachment managers include Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul and Reps. Andy Biggs, Ben Cline, Andrew Garbarino, Michael Guest, Harriet Hageman, Clay Higgins, Laurel Lee, August Pfluger and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Top Republicans have demanded a complete Senate trial, but it’s possible Senate Democrats will move quickly to dismiss the charges or send the matter to be heard by a committee.
“It would be beneath the Senate’s dignity to shrug off our clear responsibility and fail to give the charges we’ll hear today the thorough consideration they deserve,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “I’ll strenuously oppose the effort to table the articles of impeachment and avoid looking at the Biden administration border crisis squarely in the face.”
Still, chances of a full-scale Senate trial are slim, though exactly how the impeachment proceedings will play out is still unclear.
The Senate has the option to either dismiss the trial outright or to require a committee to hear it instead. Senate Democrats are largely expected to move to dismiss — or table — a trial.
Mayorkas was on Capitol Hill earlier Tuesday to push lawmakers for more funding for the department as he testified about President Joe Biden’s 2025 fiscal year
“The dedicated public servants of DHS deserve full support, and the American people deserve the results a fully resourced DHS can deliver,” Mayorkas told lawmakers.
Mayorkas is only the second Cabinet secretary to be impeached in U.S. history after William Belknap, a former secretary of war, in 1876.
ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Allison Pecorin and Quinn Owen contributed to this report.
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