Mayorkas Impeachment Moves Forward

The House GOP is planning on forwarding the articles of impeachment for Secretary Mayorkas to the Senate on April 10th. This will be the first impeachment trial since Donald Trump’s in January 2020, and the first of a secretary since the 19th century.

Mayorkas is not expected to be removed due to hyper partisanship in Congress. This will, however, bring the problems of the border back into the news. The NY Times reports:

Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday wrote to Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, demanding that the Senate hold an impeachment trial next month of Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary. The speaker called plans to quickly dismiss the charges against Mr. Mayorkas “a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people.”

In a letter signed by the 11 Republicans he named as impeachment managers to try Mr. Mayorkas, Mr. Johnson wrote that they planned to send over the charges on April 10, after the Senate returns from its Easter break. Senators in both parties, who serve as the jury for impeachment trials, have indicated that they do not want to sit through such a proceeding in the case of Mr. Mayorkas, notwithstanding House Republicans’ insistence on it.

In addition to general benefits of impeachment, Republicans will able to put two Senate Democrats who are up for reelection under scrutiny. Both Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana face serious opposition in this coming election. The Hill continues:

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote a letter to Schumer on Thursday informing him the House will send the impeachment articles to the Senate on April 10.

“I would say it’s the biggest threat to Sherrod Brown and Jon Tester, specifically. It’s a really, really bad issue for them,” a Senate Republican strategist said of the vulnerability Republicans think the two Democrats have on border security and immigration issues.

Congressional Republicans have to be careful however, as their numbers are slowly dwindling. While they still command a majority, it is at risk of fracturing if they expose themselves too much.

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