What to expect as Senate kicks off Alejandro Mayorkas impeachment trial: Could Democrats kill the Biden border chief investigation before it even begins?

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he will move to dismiss Mayorkas' impeachment charges today, putting the final nail in the coffin for the Republican-led effort. 

The first Cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years is facing a trial in the Democrat-controlled Senate, but the charges against him will be quickly shut it down because there aren't enough votes to convict him.

The two articles of impeachment accuse President Biden's top border official of failing to uphold immigration law and lying to Congress about the state of the U.S.-Mexico border.  

The Democrat leader had previously remained coy on whether he would dismiss the trial entirely or vote to refer it to committee, which would drag out the process. 

'It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise, one that both conservative and liberal legal scholars agree fails to meet the high standard demanded by impeachment,' Schumer declared on the floor. 

'I will seek an agreement for a period of debate time that would allow Republicans to offer a vote on trial resolutions, allow for Republicans to offer points of order and then move to dismiss.'

The announcement is a clear indication that the GOP effort remove Mayorkas is effectively over.

A trial was triggered after the 11 GOP impeachment managers physically walked the articles from the House to the Senate Tuesday afternoon in a dramatic fashion.

Now, at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, senators will be sworn in as jurors in the impeachment trial against Biden's embattled secretary, who is not expected to attend.

As it stands, Schumer will bring up a vote to dismiss a trial entirely - which only needs a simple majority to pass or fail - without hearing the case brought by House GOP managers.

Republicans are adamantly opposed to this. 

The House impeachment managers and Republican senators held a press conference Tuesday urging Schumer to fulfill, what they claim, is his constitutional duty to hold a trial. 

'Not having an impeachment trial is unconstitutional,' Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said. 

'We're going to see Chuck Schumer throw out 200 years of history ignoring the Constitution,' Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said at the event.

'Why? Because he does not want these managers to present the evidence of the people dying because of their policies.'

Republicans are adamant that Mayorkas should lose his job after consecutive years of record-breaking illegal migrant apprehensions. 

Democrats, meanwhile, have decried the secretary's impeachment as a sham and a dispute over policy difference rather than actual high crimes and misdemeanors. 

On Monday, Speaker Mike Johnson signed the articles of impeachment against the border boss.

'The catastrophe at the southern border is the number one issue for the American people,' Johnson said in a statement. 'We must hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.' 

'While it will force him to grapple with the crisis his party and the President have created, Senator Schumer must hold a public trial on Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment.'

The White House is also awaiting the Senate's next move, though they have reportedly not lobbied to get on-the-fence senators on Mayorkas' side.

'We speak to the administration from time to time. We haven’t spoken on that topic,' said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.

GOP senators have said they would try to invoke points of order to set the ground rules for the impeachment, but whether they are recognized by the Democrat-held chamber is unlikely.

Now, Schumer and Senate Democrats are set to save Mayorkas from losing his job. 

How did we get here? Mayorkas impeachment timeline:

The Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee has been investigating Mayorkas' mishandling of the U.S. border since last summer. 

The committee released a five-installment report spanning from July 2023 to December 2023. 

In January, Chairman Green released an impeachment resolution with two individual charges against Mayorkas. 

The impeachment articles said that Mayorkas 'refused to comply with Federal immigration laws' amid a record surge of migrants and that he has 'breached the public trust' in his claims to Congress that the US-Mexico border is secure.

After a late night vote passing the articles out of the committee on January 31, the resolution was teed up for a vote on the House floor. 

A week later, the House voted 216-214 on the impeachment articles and the Republican-backed motion failed.  

But a week later, on February 13, the House tried again and the articles of impeachment passed by a single vote.  

'Secretary Mayorkas’ impeachment—the first of a sitting Cabinet official in U.S. history—indicates how seriously the House takes his refusal to comply with the law and his breach of the public trust,' Green told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'This historic vote followed a thorough, fair, comprehensive, and nearly year-long investigation conducted by the House Committee on Homeland Security into Secretary Mayorkas and his handling of the unprecedented border crisis.'

'The Framers of our Constitution gave Congress this grave authority when public officials choose to ignore the law and inflict grave harm on our constitutional order. The Democrat-led Senate must hold the trial, render a verdict, and hold Secretary Mayorkas accountable,' Green added.

Following the passage of the articles in the House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office released a statement indicating that the articles would be promptly acted upon after the following a in-district work period. 

But as that time came and went the House did not send the Senate the articles, instead working for weeks on massive funding packages to keep the government from a partial shutdown.  

After another at home work period for Easter recess, Speaker Johnson and his appointed impeachment managers sent a letter to Schumer on March 28 informing him they would walk the articles to the Senate on April 10. 

On April 9, however, a group of GOP Senators led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, John Kennedy, R-La., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., held a press conference advocating for the House to hold off sending the articles. 

The 11th-hour plea for delaying was because the Republicans knew if the articles were delivered on schedule - Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. - the Senate would have little motivation to have a long trial as many had planned to fly out of D.C. by Thursday.

'Many House and Senate members think Johnson’s timing is dumb, because a Wednesday night delivery [and] Thursday afternoon floor fight aren’t enough time to win the news cycle and to hammer the fight in Washington,' a senior Senate aide told DailyMail.com Tuesday. 

Later that evening, Speaker Johnson agreed to the Senator's request and held off on sending the articles.  

A spokesperson for Speaker Johnson said that 'to ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.'

'There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,' Taylor Haulsee told DailyMail.com. 

A source familiar with the matter told DailyMail.com that the House is expected to deliver the articles to the Senate on Tuesday, April 16. 

What will happen this week?

The articles of impeachment against Mayorkas will be physically walked across the Capitol from the House to the Senate on Tuesday by the Johnson-appointed impeachment managers.

The procession from the House to the Senate will be led by House staff workers and will also feature the eleven impeachment managers following behind them.

The last time the impeachment ceremony took place was in January 2021, when former President Donald Trump was impeached by the House for high crimes and misdemeanors related to his behavior on January 6. 

Once over on the Senate side the House employees are expected to enter the upper chamber and present the articles to the senator presiding over the floor. 

Delivery of the articles immediately begins the process in the Senate.

'As busy as we are, one issue the Senate will soon have to address is the House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas,' Schumer said Wednesday after Johnson agreed to delaying the articles' transmission.

'Our plan over here has not changed: the Senate is ready to go whenever the House is. We want to address this issue as expeditiously as possible.'

'And as I said yesterday, impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That sets an awful precedent.'

Schumer stating that the Senate will work quickly on the matter without providing further detail shows how closely he is holding his cards to his chest.

Will Democrats move to quash the trial for Mayorkas? 

He has several routes forward upon receiving the articles.

First, he could put the articles up for an immediate vote, which could and likely would result in the Democrats voting to table the motion, meaning there would be no impeachment trial in the Senate and Mayorkas would be cleared of wrongdoing.

Democrats control the Senate by a slim majority of 51-49, but some Republicans have indicated that they would vote to dismiss because there is no path forward for a trial. 

Second, he could proceed by swearing in the Senate as jurors in the case, which would then enable the House impeachment managers to argue their case against Mayorkas before the upper chamber. 

After hearing the case, the Senate would then vote on the articles.

Schumer's third option is to send the articles into committee for review. 

The special committee would then investigate the articles of impeachment and would later provide recommendations for how the Senate should move forward.

In that case, the Senate floor would not be jammed up with impeachment proceedings, allowing them to legislate on other matters while simultaneously addressing Mayorkas' impeachment. 

Still, how Schumer wants to move forward is remains to be seen. 

Senate Republicans are hoping for a full trial as they argue it is the Senate's Constitutional duty.

But as the Senate is controlled by Democrats, it appears unlikely Schumer will decide to move forward in that matter.