House Delivers Impeachment Articles Against Mayorkas, Calling for a Trial
After two months of delay, House Republicans on Tuesday delivered articles of impeachment against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, to the Senate, as they demanded a full trial.
Constitutional scholars have called the case against Mr. Mayorkas groundless, and the Democrats who control the Senate have made it clear that they want to curtail a lengthy trial in favor of a quick vote to dismiss the charges against him. But Republicans have pushed ahead with the articles, which accuse the secretary of willfully refusing to enforce border laws and breaching the public trust.
“For the last nearly four years, we’ve seen Secretary Mayorkas willfully cede operational control of our border to drug cartels,” Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday, describing the chaos at the country’s southern border as he urged the Senate to take up the case.
“We’ve seen exploding numbers of terrorists being encountered at the border,” he added. “We’ve seen gang members and people with criminal backgrounds be released into our country. We’ve seen fentanyl flood over the border.”
He accused Mr. Mayorkas and President Biden of intentionally failing in their responsibilities to secure the border.
“He and Joe Biden engineered this catastrophe,” Mr. Johnson said. “They allowed it. They apparently desired it.”