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Pictured, left to right, are House Speaker Mike Johnson, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.
Speaker Mike Johnson informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that the House will send the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10, according to a letter obtained by CNN, the next step in the impeachment process at the top. on camera.
Schumer’s office responded to the letter saying the senators will be sworn in as jurors on April 11.
The House of Representatives impeached Mayorkas on February 13 by an extremely narrow margin, making him the first cabinet secretary to be removed in nearly 150 years.
House Republicans impeached Mayorkas last month after failing to do so in their first attempt, a stunning loss that came after defections and GOP absenteeism sank the initial vote. Republicans sought to use Mayorkas’ impeachment to spotlight the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border as the conference faced growing pressure from their base to hold President Joe Biden and his departments and agencies accountable for immigration and border security policies.
The Democratic-controlled Senate is not expected to convict Mayorkas, and senators could quickly reject impeachment, although Schumer has not specified how his chamber would handle the process. Schumer said last month that Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray would preside over the proceedings.
In his letter, Johnson said Mayorkas committed serious crimes and misdemeanors for managing the southern border, although several constitutional experts said the evidence fell short of that high bar. Mia Ehrenberg, a DHS spokeswoman, called the effort a “baseless, unconstitutional impeachment” that is “without a shred of evidence or legitimate constitutional grounds.”
House Republicans had deliberately not sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate until after Congress had finished examining government funding for this fiscal year, as CNN previously reported. Both chambers are not back in session until the week of April 8.
Johnson urged Schumer to hold a Senate trial against Mayorkas.
“We urge you to schedule a trial on this matter expeditiously,” Johnson wrote, arguing that Schumer must fulfill his “constitutional duty.”
Sending the members of impeachment against Mayorkas to the Senate sets up a showdown between Senate Democrats and Republicans over the border, a particularly charged topic in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
The way the impeachment trial against Mayorkas unfolded has made many Republicans even more skeptical about the prospects of impeaching the president, who may be their main target for investigation this Congress. Republicans do not have the votes or concrete evidence to impeach Biden, given their slim majority, leaving the impeachment inquiry at a standstill.
On top of that, many have pointed out that Mayorkas’ impeachment is likely to go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate, making their diligent efforts to impeach Biden look like a dead end.
In a recent fundraising email obtained by CNN, House Oversight Chairman James Comer, who is helping investigate Biden, made exactly that argument.
Stressing that the Senate has not yet considered Mallorca’s articles of impeachment and is likely to reject them quickly, Comer wrote: “What do you think they would do if we impeached Biden?”
Johnson signed the letter with the House Republicans he selected as his impeachment managers, which include House Homeland Security Speaker Mark Green of Tennessee and Reps. Michael McCall of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Clay Higgins of Louisiana , Ben Klein of Virginia, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, August Pfluger of Texas, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming and Laurel Lee of Florida.
This story has been updated with additional developments and reaction.
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.
