The Senate on Wednesday dismissed the impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, voting along party lines before the start of his trial to set aside two articles of impeachment accusing him of failing to enforce immigration laws and violating the trust of the United States public harmed.
By a vote of 51-48, with one senator voting “present,” the Senate ruled that the first impeachment was unconstitutional because it did not meet the constitutional requirements of a high crime or misdemeanor. Republicans were united in opposition, with the exception of Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the only “present” vote, while Democrats were unanimous in favor.
Ms. Murkowski joined her party and voted against dismissing the second count for the same reasons; It passed by a cross-party vote of 51 to 49.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, moved to dismiss all charges on the grounds that a Cabinet member cannot be impeached and removed simply for implementing the policies of the administration of which he or she is a member.
“Confirming this gross abuse by the House of Representatives would be a serious mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Schumer said.
It only took about three hours for the Senate to settle the matter.
Republicans, for their part, warned that the dangerous precedent was the one that Democrats had set by deciding to skip impeachment proceedings altogether, which they said was an evasion of the Senate’s constitutional duty. They tried several times to delay the dismissal, but failed due to several internal party votes.
“Filing articles of impeachment would be unprecedented in the history of the Senate — it’s as simple as that,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader.
Mr. McConnell did not mention that he voted for an unsuccessful 2021 Republican attempt to halt a second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol before the Senate held a trial.
Republican senators were outraged by Mr. Schumer’s maneuvers. Some accused him of disparaging the institution of the Senate and the Constitution itself. Others pounded the table, calling for the trial to be postponed for two weeks, until next month or even until after the November election. They accused Mr. Mayorkas of lying to Congress and obstructing Republican investigations.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah walked around the room, visibly frustrated, trying to strategize with his fellow Republicans.
“The Mayorkas-Biden policies have led to the worst border crisis in U.S. history,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican in the House.
Mr. Mayorkas is the first sitting Cabinet member in United States history to be impeached. William Belknap, the Secretary of War, was impeached in 1876 but resigned just minutes before the vote was scheduled.
Unlike Belknap, Mr. Mayorkas has never been accused of corruption or any crime other than implementing immigration policies that Republicans oppose.
Democrats condemned Mr. Mayorkas’ impeachment as unlawful and politicized. Legal experts believe the proceedings against him are unfounded and argue that the allegations against him do not rise to the level of criminal offenses. But Republicans pushed ahead anyway, essentially trying to blame the secretary for President Biden’s immigration policies, which they say have fueled a wave of illegal immigration.
The votes came after Republicans spent much of the day railing against chaos at the U.S. border with Mexico and blaming the Biden administration for it. Under Mr. Biden, border crossings on the southern border have reached record highs. Republicans insisted that Mr. Schumer hold a trial in which House impeachment managers would lay out their allegations.
Failure to do so, Mr. McConnell said, “would mean shirking both our fundamental responsibilities and the stark truth of the record-breaking crisis at our southern border.”
On Wednesday, the Senate prepared to transform into an impeachment court, with senators required to be sworn in and sit at their desks to begin the proceedings. But they spent much of the afternoon haggling over whether the trial should even take place, and ultimately the Democrats who control the chamber prevailed in their attempt to shut down the proceedings before they even began.
After the first charge was dismissed, Mr. Lee rose to the floor and asked angrily, “If this isn’t a high crime and misdemeanor, what is?”
After the articles of impeachment were deleted, Mr. Lee and other Republican senators took turns presenting the allegations against the Cabinet secretary, but spoke to a nearly empty Senate chamber.
In a news conference after the votes, Mr. Schumer said he did not regret setting a precedent that impeachment charges could be dismissed without a trial. If future secretaries or presidents are accused of political disagreements, those accusations should also be rejected, he said.
“The dangerous precedent is not the one that Republicans are talking about, but that of impeachment taking the place of political disagreement,” Schumer said.
Mr. Mayorkas has spent months essentially ignoring the case and continuing to work. He negotiated a border security deal with both Senate Republicans and Democrats that collapsed after Mr. Trump opposed it.
Mr. Mayorkas spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where he discussed his agency’s budget request and called on Congress to give the department more resources to enforce border laws, hire more staff and pass legislation he negotiated.
“Today’s Senate decision to reject House Republicans’ baseless attacks on Secretary Mayorkas clearly demonstrates that there was no evidence or constitutional grounds to justify impeachment,” said Mia Ehrenberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security.
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2024-04-18 12:09:07
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