House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced on Thursday that he plans to send articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10, calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to hold a full trial and hear GOP arguments in favor of Mayorkas being ousted from his job.
“He refused to comply with the requirements of the immigration laws passed by Congress … Throughout his tenure, he has repeatedly lied to Congress and the American people about the scope of the crisis and his role in it,” Johnson and the 11 House Republican lawmakers who were appointed to serve as impeachment managers wrote in a letter to Schumer.
“To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve,” they added.
There’s no indication Senate Democrats will heed that argument. Schumer has been harshly dismissive of the House GOP’s vote earlier this year impeaching Mayorkas, calling it a partisan “sham” that failed to produce evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor.
“The one and only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump,” Schumer said last month.
Schumer’s office reiterated on Thursday that the Senate will receive the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, as required by the U.S. Constitution, and that senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial on the following day, April 11, with Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.) serving as the presiding officer.
