--- title: Mayorkas Senate Impeachment Trial: What Happens Next? description: House Republicans are preparing to sign articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas. What happens next is far from certain. canonical: https://time.com/6965490/senate-mayorkas-impeachment-trial/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-04-15T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T11:08:30.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: The House Is About to Deliver Articles of Impeachment Against Mayorkas. It Could Get Messy og:description: Democrats almost certainly will ultimately vote to acquit Mayorkas, but Republicans have tools to delay. og:url: https://time.com/6965490/senate-mayorkas-impeachment-trial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519dd940aec7ff22/698a557e16d8845e7fc3e85b/GettyImages-2148157561.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: DHS Secretary Mayorkas Testifies Before House And Senate Hearings og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The House Is About to Deliver Articles of Impeachment Against Mayorkas. It Could Get Messy twitter:description: Democrats almost certainly will ultimately vote to acquit Mayorkas, but Republicans have tools to delay. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519dd940aec7ff22/698a557e16d8845e7fc3e85b/GettyImages-2148157561.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The House Is About to Deliver Articles of Impeachment Against Mayorkas. It Could Get Messy > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=55f83246-bd4f-4a98-adcf-bf1f70a3784b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Senate Dismisses Mayorkas Impeachment Articles as Unconstitutional [Watch (HLS stream): Senate Dismisses Mayorkas Impeachment Articles as Unconstitutional](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/px7TDM7p.m3u8) (3:17)  _Published 2024-04-18. The Senate clash over the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lasted less than three hours as Democrats moved quickly on Wednesday to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 11:08 AM UTCPublished: Apr 15, 2024 11:00 AM UTC The Senate clash over the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lasted less than three hours as Democrats moved quickly on Wednesday to dismiss the charges as unconstitutional.  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 11:08 AM UTCPublished: Apr 15, 2024 11:00 AM UTC House Republicans are preparing to sign articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and walk them across the Capitol Rotunda to the Senate as soon as this week. That will make Mayorkas the first cabinet official to beformally impeached in 150 years. But what happens next is far from certain. Only one thing is for sure: it's going to get messy. Democrats control the Senate and almost certainly will vote to acquit Mayorkas, arguing that the articles of impeachment against him are deeply flawed and based on Republican objections to the Biden Administration’s immigration policy—not on any alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. The question is, how long will the process drag out? Both parties have procedural tools at their disposal. The top Democrat in the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, [told ](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5113106/senator-schumer-impeachment-settle-policy-disagreements)reporters April 9that he thought he had the votes to rapidly close up the impeachment proceedings in the Senate. “We’re going to try and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements,” Schumer said outside the Senate floor. The Constitution gives the Senate “the sole Power to try all Impeachments” and requires two-thirds of Senators to convict. That means that the House has been given right to accuse and the Senate has the right to acquit or convict. But the actual proceedings of an impeachment trial aren’t listed in the founding document and instead have been largely set by historic precedent. That gives Democrats in the Senate some leeway in determining what happens once they receive the articles. **Read More:** [_Mayorkas Is Only the Second Cabinet Member to be Impeached. The First Was a Civil War Hero_](https://time.com/6691749/impeachment-mayorkas-cabinet-member-history/) Republican Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah are concerned that Schumer will put forward a motion to table the articles of impeachment by majority vote, without a Senate trial. They are demanding that Schumer move forward with a Senate trial of Mayorkas, they wrote in the [Wall Street _Journal_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-senates-duty-to-put-mayorkas-ontrial-impeachment-e28a8294) on April 7\. Democrats “want to avoid an uncomfortable election-year discussion about President Biden’s biggest failure: the U.S. southern border invasion,” Cruz and Lee wrote. Cruz and Lee alsopoint out that Republicans went forward with a trial when they were in the majority during the first impeachment of Donald Trump in 2020 over whether he abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. Senate Republicans voted to acquit him—and Trump was tried and [acquitted again](https://time.com/5939539/joe-neguse-impeachment-donald-trump/) in a second impeachment trial over his role in inciting the [Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol](https://time.com/6087577/michael-fanone-january-6-interview/). For the Jan. 6 impeachment charges in 2021, Cruz and Lee voted with 43 other Senate Republicans to dismiss them, but that wasn’t enough votes to table the House charges and the trial went forward anyway. Now, a group of Republicans are planning to delay Schumer’s ability to close up impeachment proceedings with speeches demanding a full trial and forcing time-consuming votes on points of order. Legal experts have [told ](https://time.com/6554103/mayorkas-impeachment-hearing-criticized/)TIME that the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas are very weak, lack evidence of wrongdoing, and don’t rise to the standard set in the Constitution. The impeachment articles charge Mayorkas with "willfully and systematically" refusing to comply with federal immigration laws during a surge in migrants crossing the border in recent months and say he obstructed the House Republican investigation into his handling of the border and "breached the public trust" by telling Congress that the U.S.-Mexico border is secure. **Read More:** [_Experts Blast Mayorkas Impeachment Probe for Lack of Evidence_](https://time.com/6554103/mayorkas-impeachment-hearing-criticized/) The border is at the center of an election-year fight. The number of illegal border crossings has increased in recent years. The Biden Administration has asked Republicans in Congress to approve more funding to hire Border Patrol agents and immigration officers, but Republicans have refused, saying that they want Biden to be more restrictive with the resources he has. The effort to impeach Mayorkas in the House [failed twice](https://time.com/6692153/alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-fails-republicans/) before ultimately passing in February. Evensome House Republicans felt that [impeaching Mayorkas](https://time.com/6692030/conspiracies-impeachment-alejandro-mayorkas/) went too far. “It’s completely unconstitutional,” Rep. Tom McClintock, a California Republican, said Nov. 15, during a broadcast of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM. “Impeachment is a very limited power to remove officials for, quote, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” McClintock said. When House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February, Biden said in a statement that “history will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games”—a statement White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed on April 9\. Throughout the impeachment process, Mayorkas has denied any wrongdoing.After the House voted to impeach him, Mayorkas told [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/02/17/alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-vote-reax-amanpour-sot-nn-vpx.cnn) on Feb. 17 that the impeachment allegations are “baseless allegations, no basis in fact, no basis in law, and I continue my work.” ## Transcript I will ask unanimous consent to allow for debate time. to allow for Republicans to offer and have votes on trial resolutions and allow for Republicans to offer and have votes on points of order never before in the history of our Republic has the Senate dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment when the impeached individual was alive and had not resigned and we find ourselves in the awkward position because we're in impeachment proceedings are being able unable to discuss in public on the merits of the senator Schumer has claimed and at the same time my Democratic friends have refused to go into closed session so we can discuss the majority Leader's position is asking members of the Senate to vote on political expediency to avoid listening to arguments. The only rational way to resolve this question is actually debated to consider the Constitution and consider the law. We gave your side a chance for debate in public where it should be and your side of ejected. We are moving forward or college know that we are obligated to take these proceedings seriously. This is what our old prescribes it's what the history and precedent require and I would urge each of our colleagues to consider that this is what the framers actually and bigger. On this phone at the age of 51 the Nazar 48:1 Senator responded present. The point of order is well taken and the article Falls is recognized. I raised a point of order that impeachment Article 2 does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor as required under Article 2 Section 4 of the United States Constitution and is therefore unconstitutional are 49. The point of order is well-taken article article to Falls resident move to adjourn the impeachment trial of Alejandro in New York has seen a guy and I asked for the gays an ace. Is there a sufficient second there is a sufficient second clerk will call the roll. On this phone via Sr. 51 the Nazar 49th. The motion is too greedy to the Senate sitting as a court of impeachment stands adjourned sine die. This means that the Senate. Can ignore an effect the house is impeachment. It doesn't make any difference with our friends on the other side. Thought he should have been impeached or not. you are and by doing what we just did. We have an effect ignored. The directions of the house, which word I have a trial. No evidence. No procedure. This is a day that's not a proud day. 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