Senate Democrats Dismiss Mayorkas Impeachment Trial as Unconstitutional
Republican efforts to remove the Homeland Security Secretary have now failed.
On February 13, 2024, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on two charges. However, the partisan officials never acted with any urgency in their pursuit to remove him from office. The articles of impeachment weren’t delivered to the U.S. Senate until earlier this week. Rules dictate that an impeachment trial must commence within one legislative day upon their delivery. That kicked off today. It ended today too.
The allegations against Mayorkas were driven entirely by a policy dispute between the Biden administration and House Republicans. The charges allege he failed to comply with federal immigration laws and breached the public trust. However, the process in the House only barely passed after two attempts - with 214 votes in favor and 213 votes opposed. Only Republicans voted to advance this impeachment effort. Even then, the conference wasn’t united as several voted with all the Democrats to prevent any further action from being taken.
Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green of Tennessee was the lead impeachment manager for the Senate trial. He was joined by Michael McCaul of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Laurel Lee of Florida, August Pfluger of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Ultimately though, Senate Republicans refused a time agreement for a 90-minute presentation by the impeachment managers, then an open floor debate and ending with dismissal votes.
Senate Democrats always had the votes to keep Mayorkas in office. Senate Republicans were split on the impeachment attempt. Some were willing to listen to the arguments before agreeing to vote with Democrats. However, that debate never occurred. Instead, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York raised a point of order declaring both impeachment articles unconstitutional as they don’t cover any actual impeachable conduct. Various Republican Senators raised their own points of order in an attempt to delay a quick dismissal. In the end, Senate Democrats remained united in defeating the impeachment.
The votes on Schumer’s points of order largely fell along party lines. The 51 Democrats and Independents that form the majority voted in favor. Meanwhile, 48 Republicans voted against the motion. Notably, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted present on the first point and no on the second. The trial was then adjourned with a similar 51-49 vote.
All of this comes as Mayorkas and his aides have been before Congress in recent days testifying on the department’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2025. That too indicated that Mayorkas was never in any serious danger of being removed from office. Mayorkas has served as Secretary of Homeland Secretary in the Biden administration since February 2021. He currently has the third longest tenure of any Secretary in the department’s history.