Democratic senators dismissed both impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and blocked a landmark trial into his role in the border crisis.
President Biden’s border chief escaped an investigation and the first impeachment trial of a Cabinet secretary in 150 years after the Senate voted along party lines to overturn both articles.
Republicans claimed their rivals were trying to “set the Constitution on fire” and break “200 years of precedent” by shutting down the trial before it had even begun.
The Republican Party says Mayorkas is to blame for the historic surge in migrants crossing the southern border and says his policies show the dire situation is intentional.
It is a victory for the White House, which has called the impeachment trial a sham, and an embarrassing defeat for House Republicans, who have also stalled their investigation into President Biden.
The senators were sworn in as jurors in the National Security Section. The impeachment trial of Alejandro Mayorkas shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday
House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February for high crimes and misdemeanors related to his handling of the U.S. border and for lying to Congress.
The Senate voted along party lines 51 to 48, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski voting “present,” to overturn the first article against the secretary of Homeland Security. More than an hour later, the second article was roundly rejected 51 to 49.
All 100 senators were present in the plenary session of the trial and the chamber dedicated only three hours to the impeachment process.
The House GOP voted to impeach him in February on two counts: one for refusing to comply with the law and the second for lying to Congress about the severity of the immigration crisis, which has seen record levels of detentions in 2021. 2022 and 2023.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has claimed that Republicans are playing political games with this impeachment, and ultimately he and Democrats were able to overturn the articles of impeachment, voting against all Republican attempts to keep them alive.
“Today’s Senate decision to reject House Republicans’ baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas definitively demonstrates that there was no evidence or constitutional basis to justify impeachment,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said after the failed impeachment votes.
“As he has for more than 20 years of dedicated public service, Secretary Mayorkas will continue to work every day to enforce our laws and protect our country.”
“It’s time for Congressional Republicans to support the Department’s vital mission instead of wasting time playing political games and standing in the way of bipartisan, common-sense border reforms.”
But Republicans said the brief Senate trial is evidence that Democrats are not taking their responsibilities seriously.
“By voting unanimously to shirk their constitutional responsibility, each and every Senate Democrat has issued their full support for the Biden Administration’s dangerous open borders policies,” said a joint statement from House Republican leaders following the vote. conclusion of the trial.
“Secretary Mayorkas, along with President Biden, has used nearly every tool at his disposal to engineer the largest humanitarian and national security catastrophe at our borders in American history.”
Despite strong criticism from Republicans, the impeachment trial ended in a devastating blow to the Republican Party.
Still, the event was a rare sight that doesn’t happen often at the Capitol.
Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., presided over Mayorkas’ impeachment trial.
Senate Sen. Pro Tempore Emeritus Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) swore in current Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., to preside over Mayorkas’ impeachment trial.
In a stunning historical moment, all senators raised their hands in unison to be sworn in as jurors. They were then called in groups of four to sign the oath book.
As the impeachment process began, Schumer outlined the ground rules of the trial.
The Democratic leader said seven points of order will be allowed on the first article, which states Mayorkas violated federal immigration laws, followed by an hour of debate.
Afterwards, the Senate will be allowed only one point of order on the second charge (that Mayorkas abused the public trust) and another hour of debate will follow.
The Senate will then vote on the charges and the impeachment court will adjourn.
“It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to conduct this overtly partisan exercise, an exercise that both conservative and liberal jurists agree does not meet the high standard required by impeachment,” Schumer declared.
But Republicans claim Mayorkas’s handling of border security has been atrocious, and say an estimated nine million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since he first took office.
‘A fair trial seeks the truth, nothing more and nothing less. I will not help Senator Schumer burn down our Constitution, overturning 200 years of precedent. Therefore, I am opposed,” responded Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.
Sen. Ted Cruz initiated a motion to move the hearing into closed session to try to allow impeachment managers to present their case to a smaller Senate hearing, but the motion was defeated by Democrats 51 to 49.
Following Cruz’s motion, Senator John Kennedy presented a motion to adjourn the session until April 30. It was also rejected.
After Kennedy’s motion, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced a motion to raise Schumer’s point of order declaring the hearing unconstitutional.
Once again, the Republicans’ motion failed.
Shortly after, the first article of impeachment against Mayorkas failed.
Notably, on that vote, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, broke from her colleagues and voted present.
Once the first article failed, similar motions were introduced on the second article of impeachment against Mayorkas.
They tried to bring the articles to closed session and suspend the Senate session until April 30. Both failed.
Kennedy then introduced a motion to adjourn the Senate until May 1.
That motion also failed.
Another motion introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., sought to suspend the Senate session until Nov. 6, the day after the 2024 election.
The motion drew laughter from some Republicans before it, like every motion put forward by Republicans before, failed.
Then, shortly thereafter, the second article of impeachment against Mayorkas failed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has claimed that Republicans are playing political games with this impeachment and said he would cancel the trial immediately after it begins.
“I will seek an agreement during a debate period that allows Republicans to offer a vote on the resolutions of the trial, allows Republicans to offer points of order and then moves to dismiss,” Schumer said Wednesday.
His announcement that he would quickly dismiss the articles all but ended the GOP’s hopes for a full trial.
However, some lawmakers may be grateful for the quick process, as they are not allowed to leave the Senate while the impeachment process continues.
In addition, a strange Senate rule prohibits them from bringing any food or drink other than water, milk or candy onto the floor.
Senators Markwayne Mullin, Roger Marshall, Ted Cruz and John Kennedy were seen with glasses of milk on their desks.
House impeachment managers walk through the Capitol on Tuesday to deliver the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to the Senate.
Republicans say Mayorkas has encouraged immigrants to cross the U.S. border illegally because DHS has reduced penalties for doing so.
House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February after he “refused to comply with federal immigration laws” amid a record surge of immigrants and “violated the public trust” in his statements to Congress that the US-Mexico border is secure.
Republican impeachment managers delivered the physical items to the upper chamber on Tuesday in a dramatic march from the House to the Senate.
In two parallel lines, the 11 managers marched from the House of Representatives to the Senate.
Upon his arrival at the Senate, manager Mark Green, R-Tenn., read aloud the charges against Mayorkas.