Alejandro Mayorkas: Senate votes to dismiss impeachment charges

2 hours ago
By Anthony Zurcher,
North America correspondent

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Watch: What led to Mayorkas' historic impeachment... in two minutes
The US Senate has voted to kill impeachment charges against Homeland Security
Secretary Alejandro Majorkas, sparing him a trial in the chamber.

It was the first time in almost 150 years, and only the second time in US history,
the Senate had considered the impeachment of a cabinet secretary.

If two-thirds of the chamber had approved, Mr Mayorkas would have been removed from
office.

He was accused of refusing to enforce immigration law.

Mr Mayorkas was also charged by the US House of Representatives with breaching "the
public trust" by making false statements during congressional testimony.

In near-party line votes on Wednesday, senators dismissed the two articles of

impeachment filed by the House two months ago.

The Department of Homeland Security welcomed the result.

The agency's statement said the vote to dismiss "proves definitively that there was
no evidence or Constitutional grounds to justify impeachment".

Migrant numbers graphic

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had proposed a process by which Republicans
would be allowed to make speeches and offer procedural motions before Democrats
would forge ahead with in a vote to dismiss the charges.

When Republicans objected, demanding a full trial on the merits of the Mayorkas
case, Mr Schumer, a New York Democrat, moved to force a vote that effectively
dismissed the first impeachment charge.

"We gave your side an opportunity," Mr Schumer said. "Your side objected. We are
moving forward."

The Republicans made several unsuccessful attempts to delay the vote, which were
blocked by the 51 Democrats in the chamber.

In the end, all Democrats voted to dismiss the first impeachment charge.

All but one of the 49 Republicans objected, with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski
abstaining.

The process repeated itself with the second impeachment charge, although Ms
Murkowski joined her Republican colleagues.

The chamber then voted 51-49 to formally end the impeachment trial proceedings less
than four hours after the 100 senators took the oath to serve as jurors.

Republicans had hoped to use the impeachment trial to call attention to what they
have characterised as the failings of the Biden administration's immigration policy
and the surge of undocumented migrants who have crossed the US-Mexico border in
recent years.

They expressed outrage at Mr Schumer's quick move to end the Senate's part in the
constitutional impeachment process in only a matter of hours.

They said it broke with tradition and set a bad precedent for future impeachment
proceedings.

"If the Senate held a full impeachment trial, the Border crisis evidence would gut
the Biden administration like a fish," Republican Senator John Kennedy posted on
social media before the vote.

"Senator Schumer won't even let the House make its case, no matter how much it
blows up the Senate."

Former US President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House

of Representative twice during his presidency.

Both times he was acquitted by the Senate after full trials.

Senate Republicans had attempted to dismiss the charges against Mr Trump before his
first impeachment trial - the same tactic used by Mr Schumer on Wednesday - but
their efforts were unsuccessful.

Democrats, for their part, said that the Republican-controlled House, which
impeached Mr Mayorkas in February by a one-vote margin after a previous attempted
failed, was abusing the impeachment process.

"This is the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicised impeachment
trial ever in the history of the United States," Mr Schumer said.

"Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements."

Public opinion polls show that immigration is one of the top issues concerning
American voters in advance of November's presidential and congressional elections.

Earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate had negotiated a
compromise package to reform immigration law and provide more funds for border
security.

The effort failed, however, after Mr Trump and conservative Republicans argued the
legislation did not go far enough and was designed to help Democrats defuse the
matter as a campaign issue.

Republicans are sure to cite the decision by Democrats not to allow a full
impeachment trial as evidence that the party does not want to address immigration.

They may use it on the campaign trail, particularly against Democratic senators
running for re-election in more conservative-leaning states.

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