Watch: Senate Shutters Mayorkas Impeachment Trial

The Senate begins the trial of President Joe Biden’s impeached border chief Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern — but Democrats are expected to shut down the process to minimize public recognition of the many harms caused by Mayorkas’s pro-migration actions.

“Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a Senate speech on Tuesday, adding:

This would set an awful precedent for Congress. Every time there’s a policy agreement in the House, they send it over here and tie the Senate in knots to do an impeachment trial? That’s absurd. That’s an abuse of the process. That is more chaos.

But Democrats want to minimize public recognition of the damage caused by Mayorkas’s refusal to enforce the nation’s popular and beneficial immigration laws. “The evidence is devastating,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told Fox News. “It will gut them like a fish.”

The very formal trial process is laid down in Senate rules.

The senators must be sitting at their desks at 1 p.m. Eastern. Then Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the longest-serving Republican, takes an oath from the Senate’s President Pro Tempore, who is Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). She then presides as all members take an oath to follow the Constitution and the Senate’s impeachment rules.

Watch the impeachment hearing here.

“As befits such a solemn and rare responsibility as convening a court of impeachment, I intend to give these charges my full and undivided attention,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Tuesday, adding:

It would be beneath the Senate’s dignity to shrug off our clear responsibility and fail to give the charges we’ll hear today the thorough consideration they deserve. I will strenuously oppose any effort to table the articles of impeachment and avoid looking the Biden administration’s border crisis squarely in the face.

Democrats will quickly try to end the process, for example, by seeking a majority who will vote to dismiss the charges.

Nearly all Democrats are expected to support a dismissal, but a few facing tight elections — such as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) — may try to dodge the vote. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), for example, told reporters on Tuesday that “I was going to read the articles this morning and I have not yet.”

Most Republican senators are expected to oppose a dismissal, but several pro-migration senators — including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) — may back the Democrats’ move to dismiss.

Murkowski, Romney, and four other Republican senators voted in 2021 to confirm Mayorkas to the position of border chief.

The articles of impeachment were presented on Tuesday by a delegation led by Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security.

The articles of impeachment say:

Throughout his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro N. Mayorkas has repeatedly violated laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security. In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States. His refusal to obey the law is not only an offense against the separation of powers in the Constitution of the United States, it also threatens our national security and has had a dire impact on communities across the country. Despite clear evidence that his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law has significantly contributed to unprecedented levels of illegal entrants, the increased control of the Southwest border by drug cartels, and the imposition of enormous costs on States and localities affected by the influx of aliens, Alejandro N. Mayorkas has continued in his refusal to comply with the law, and thereby acted to the grave detriment of the interests of the United States.

Mayorkas has repeatedly explained that he supports more migration because of his migrant parents, his sympathy for migrants, and his support for “equity” between Americans and foreigners. He also justifies his welcome for migrants by saying his priorities are above the law and claiming that the “needs” of U.S. business are paramount — regardless of the cost to ordinary Americans, the impact on U.S. children, or Americans’ rational opposition.