The impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gets underway today in the U.S. Senate -- but it might be a short one.
Senate leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says the chamber will convene this afternoon in accordance with impeachment rules, and an early vote to dismiss or delay the trial is expected.
However, Texas Sen. John Cornyn says Republicans will push back against efforts to quickly dismiss the charges. He told Talk 1370 that Schumer's plan to immediately table the charges would go against Senate rules.
"That may sound like a rather minor procedural move, but actually it violates the constitutional responsibility of the Senate to hold a trial when the House votes [on] articles of impeachment, and it violates Senate rules," said Cornyn. "But just as we've become accustomed to the lawlessness of the Biden administration on the border and elsewhere... that continues here in the United States Senate today. But it won't go down without a fight, so stay tuned."
Cornyn said Schumer needs 51 votes to table the articles of impeachment.
"We will be urging a number of procedural points, a number of arguments... but this will be their way of trying to sweep it under the rug, just as they've tried to do the last three years," said Cornyn.
The GOP-controlled House voted to impeach Mayorkas in February over his border policies. Articles of impeachment were finally delivered to the Senate on Tuesday after a two-month delay.
The articles argue that Mayorkas is "chiefly responsible for the chaos and devastation that has unfolded at America's borders over the past three years." They say Mayorkas "willfully and systemically" refused to comply with U.S. immigration laws, which incentivized unprecedented mass illegal immigration. The secretary also is accused of breaching the public trust by "misleading Congress and the American people on numerous occasions about the consequences of his decisions and the operational realities on the border."
Among a list of consequences, House Republicans say Mayorkas' open borders policy has led to historic numbers of illegal crossings, lack of consequences enforced by DHS for illegal entry, mass releases functioning as a pull factor for millions of migrants and the expansive degree of cartel control at the Southwest border.
"As a result, our country has suffered from an unprecedented border
crisis that has turned every state into a border state, causing untold suffering in communities across our country," House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said in a statement. "Congress has taken decisive action to defend our constitutional order and hold accountable a
public official who has violated his oath of office."
Schumer has said he wants to "address this issue as expeditiously as possible."
"Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement. Talk about awful precedents. This would set an awful precedent for Congress," he said in a statement. "Every time there's a policy agreement in the House, they send it over here and tie the Senate in knots to do an impeachment trial? That's absurd. That's an abuse of the process. That is more chaos."