43 Senate Republicans write to Schumer to demand Mayorkas trial

Forty-three Senate Republicans led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanding a trial on the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which House managers are due to present to the Senate next week.

Notably, six Republicans did not sign the letter, including some who have questioned whether the House has shown compelling evidence that Mayorkas committed “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the standard set by the Constitution, and noted he has implemented the border policies of President Biden.

That group includes moderate Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) didn’t sign the letter either, but it’s not clear why they abstained.

Cassidy said this week he would not support a motion to immediately table the impeachment charges and that there should be a Senate hearing.

The letter to Schumer asserts the Senate has a “constitutional responsibility to adjudicate the House of Representatives’ impeachment of” Mayorkas and notes the Senate has almost always held trials when sent articles of impeachment from the House.

“Since 1797, twenty-one individuals have been impeached by the House of Representatives. Trials were held in every single instance, except once when an impeached judge resigned from office before trial commenced,” the senators wrote.

They noted that encounters of migrants at the southern border have increased 440 percent from fiscal 2020 to 2023, including Biden’s first three years in office.

And they cited various problems blamed on the influx of migrants and the lack of law enforcement resources to adequately secure the border, such as fentanyl smuggling, the lack of housing and shelter for migrants in American communities, an increase in gang violence and high-profile assaults by migrants on police officers.

“In the face of the disaster that mounts daily at our southern border and in communities across America, the House of Representatives has formally accused Alejandro Mayorkas of demeaning his office. The American people deserve to hear the evidence through a Senate trial in a court of impeachment,” they wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security has strenuously pushed back on the impeachment, with a department spokesperson saying it was conducted “without a shred of evidence or legitimate constitutional grounds.”