The House handed its articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday afternoon after a weeklong delay.
It begins a brief upper chamber trial that might finish in a week. Republicans, who want a full Senate trial, are trying to delay it to highlight Mayorkas' inability to reduce migrant crossings and control the southern border.
As with the two Donald Trump impeachments, impeachment managers escorted two articles from the House chamber across the Rotunda to the Senate floor.
Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who wrote the Mayorkas articles, led 11 GOP impeachment managers or prosecutors in a solemn parade.
Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson began the impeachment trial: “Hear ye! Hear you! Hear you! While the House of Representatives presents an article of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas to the Senate, all are ordered to remain silent or face incarceration.
Senate Democrats, who dominate the chamber, are expected to vote to reject or delay the issue and move on to other issues, including renewing a vital surveillance tool before Friday. At least a number of GOP senators have called the Mayorkas impeachment meritless, and none of the 51 Senate Democrats support it.
"Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement; that would set a horrible precedent for Congress," Schumer said Monday on the floor. However, the Senate's approach remains unchanged since last week. We're ready when the House sends the articles. We want to resolve this quickly."
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, planned to send the Mayorkas articles to the Senate on April 10, but Senate conservatives, led by Utah's Mike Lee, lobbied the speaker to postpone the action to prevent Democrats from dismissing them later in the week as lawmakers prepared to leave Washington.
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