WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., notified Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday that the House will send impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the upper chamber on April 10.
Johnson and 11 GOP-appointed impeachment managers said in a letter to Schumer that they will present the “duly passed articles of impeachment” the House passed against Mayorkas on that day, when the Senate will be back in session.
“We urge you to schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously,” the letter to Schumer said.
The GOP-controlled House voted to impeach Mayorkas on Feb. 13 for “high crimes and misdemeanors, including his willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and his breach of the public trust,” the letter said.
“The evidence on both charges is clear, comprehensive, and compelling,” they added. Mayorkas is the second Cabinet member to be impeached in U.S. history after William Belknap, who was the secretary of war under then-President Ulysses S. Grant.
They argued that Mayorkas violated U.S. immigration laws and is “responsible for releasing millions of illegal aliens into the interior and creating unlawful mass-parole programs.” The lawmakers also accused the DHS secretary of lying to Congress and the public “about the scope of the crisis and his role in it.”
Referring to the migrant situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, Johnson and the impeachment managers said Americans “demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible.”
NBC News has reached out to Schumer’s office for comment.
This is a developing story.
Rebecca Kaplan contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
