Schumer will allow floor debate on Mayorkas impeachment but calls for dismissal of charges

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Wednesday that he will allow a floor debate on the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas but called on senators to dismiss the charges.

"For the sake of the Senate's integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases, we truly need it. Senators should dismiss today's charges," Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.

"So when we convene in trial today to accommodate the wishes of our Republican Senate colleagues, 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," he added.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Wednesday that "tabling articles of impeachment would be unprecedented in the history of the Senate."

The GOP-led House formally voted in favor of impeaching Mayorkas in February, mostly over his handling of border security as migrant border encounters continue to set records. So far into fiscal 2024, migrant encounters have outpaced those in the first six months of fiscal 2023. Republicans have also been critical of Mayorkas presiding over the release of millions of migrants into U.S. communities under the Biden Administration. 

The two impeachment articles allege a "breach of trust" related to Mayorkas describing the southern U.S. border as secure as well as a "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law."