After rushing to impeach Mayorkas, House Republicans delay sending articles to Senate

U.S. House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 13 for alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, despite lacking any evidence that he committed any illegal acts. Though GOP lawmakers framed his removal from office as urgent and necessary to save lives, two months later they still have not sent articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate for trial.

After a month-and-a-half delay, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and 11 designated House impeachment managers told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a March 28 letter that they planned to deliver the articles to the Senate on April 10. “We urge you to schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously,” they wrote. 

But reportedly concerned that the Democratic-led Senate would quickly dismiss the charges, they opted to delay again. 

“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,” a Johnson spokesperson told CNN on April 9. “There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial.”

The delay was reportedly at the urging of Senate Republicans, who wanted more time to pressure the Democratic majority to allow a lengthy Senate trial. 

“If we want to have the opportunity in the Senate to have a more fulsome discussions about this when the articles come over, there are times when that could probably happen better than having them come over tomorrow night and having to deal with it Thursday afternoon,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) told CNN.

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt told NBC News his “personal view here is that there ought to be a real cost for Chuck Schumer” if the Senate doesn’t hold a full trial.

Several Senate Republicans have criticized the impeachment as a waste of time. North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer told HuffPost on Feb. 6 it was “the dumbest exercise and use of time” and predicted it would be “obviously dead on arrival” in the Senate.

“Secretary Mayorkas is following the position of his party and of the president who was elected,”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney told reporters on April 9, according to the Guardian. Romney said that while he disagreed with those policies, they were not high crimes or misdemeanors. 

House Republicans, including Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany, have been pushing to impeach Mayorkas since his first year in office, baselessly accusing him of “reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, at the expense of the Constitution and the security of the United States.”

After two failed attempts, the House voted 214-213 to approve an impeachment resolution authored by Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who tweeted in November: “Hundreds of Americans are dying every single day. We cannot wait!”

Wisconsin Republican Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil, Tiffany, and Derrick Van Orden all voted for impeachment.

“Border security is national security, and we cannot have someone who refuses to secure the southern border in charge of protecting our homeland,” said Van Orden in a Feb. 6 press release. “It was clearly past time to impeach Secretary Mayorkas.”

“I voted to impeach Secretary Mayorkas,” tweeted Fitzgerald. “He has completely breached public trust.”

“I do not take an impeachment vote lightly, but it’s time to put the safety of our citizens first and hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable for his failures,” said Tiffany in his press statement.