Senate Dismisses Mayorkas Impeachment, Cutting Off GOP Push for Accountability on Border Crisis

The Democratic-controlled Senate dismissed both articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, quashing the Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office.

The Senate voted 51–49 along partisan lines to kill the second impeachment charge and 51–48–1 for the first impeachment charge. The upper chamber also voted 51–49 to end the short-lived trial, which began earlier Wednesday.

The House delivered both articles of impeachment to the Senate on Tuesday, two months after Republican congressmen voted to impeach Mayorkas for his failure to secure the border in the past three years. Mayorkas was the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

House Republicans’ first article of impeachment accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration and border security laws, and the second alleged he lied to Congress about the border being secure under his watch as the DHS secretary.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called both impeachment charges unconstitutional because he thought they did not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” required for the impeachment process. Schumer previously indicated he would quickly end the trial as soon as the articles of impeachment were delivered.

On the other hand, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said a “very unfortunate precedent” was set with Democrats’ quick dismissal of the charges and trial.

“By doing what we just did, we have, in effect, ignored the directions of the House, which were to have a trial,” McConnell said after the trial was adjourned. “We had no evidence, no procedure. This is a day — it’s not a proud day in the history of the Senate.”

House Republicans were not pleased either. House leadership — Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R., Minn.) Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R., La.), and House Republican Conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) — criticized Senate Democrats for “voting unanimously to bypass their constitutional responsibility” and endorsing the “Biden Administration’s dangerous open border policies.”

“Tragically, Senate Democrats don’t believe this catastrophe merits their time or a discussion on the Senate floor,” the four House GOP leaders said in a joint statement. “Instead, they’re signaling to millions demanding accountability that the cabinet official directly responsible for this disaster — who has ignored the law and misled Congress repeatedly — is above reproach. The American people will hold Senate Democrats accountable for this shameful display.”

Representative Mark Green (R., Tenn.), who heads the Homeland Security Committee, which was behind the impeachment push against Mayorkas, also blasted the Senate for failing to do its duty in conducting a full trial and hearing evidence.

“Instead of addressing the serious charges against Secretary Mayorkas, the upper chamber has chosen to neglect its responsibility,” Green said. “This is an unprecedented failure by the Senate to do its duty, which, for the first time in our history, has outright refused to conduct an impeachment trial when given the opportunity to do so.”

“This is not only a tacit approval of Secretary Mayorkas’ assault on our constitutional order, but an insult to the millions of Americans who want to end this crisis and hold accountable those who intentionally created it,” he added. “Sadly, the Senate has now failed on both fronts.”

Meanwhile, the DHS and White House both praised the Senate’s decision.

“It’s time for Congressional Republicans to support the Department’s vital mission instead of wasting time playing political games and standing in the way of commonsense, bipartisan border reforms,” said DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg.

White House spokesperson Ian Sams similarly applauded the decision, saying President Joe Biden and Mayorkas will “continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue action solutions at the border.”