The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to dismiss articles of impeachment brought against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without holding a trial, prompting split reactions from elected officials across the country.
Senators voted 51-48 to dismiss the first article of impeachment brought against the secretary, which alleged that he has participated in a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The second article of impeachment, which alleged Mayorkas’ actions have led to a “breach of public trust,” was then dismissed by a vote of 51-49.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) condemned the decision to dismiss the articles and claimed that “Democrats would rather shirk their responsibility because they don’t want the American people to see the facts.”
“They care more about political clout than exercising oversight to investigate how Alejandro Mayorkas willfully aided and abetted the criminal invasion of the United States,” Cruz added in an April 17 statement about the vote.
Texas Rep. August Pfluger (R-San Angelo) presented similar concerns about Democrats’ unwillingness to debate the impeachment articles because they set a precedent for future impeachment proceedings.
“By voting to dismiss the Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas without a trial, Senate Democrats just proved that they do not care about the crisis at the southern border. This violation of the Constitution sets a horrible precedent. Voters will judge those who dismissed it out of hand,” Pfluger said, according to The Texas Tribune.
The concerns about precedent have been some of the most discussed by elected officials, with House Budget Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) claiming that “Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats bowed to the Radical Left instead of standing for our Constitution” by not holding Mayorkas accountable.
“Democrats’ outright dismissal of the impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas — without even holding a trial — breaks with 200 years of precedent and is a slap in the face to countless communities across our nation that have suffered from the chaos and lawlessness at our southern border,” Arrington added.
Although many elected Republican officials have spoken out against the vote to dismiss the impeachment articles, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he did not mind setting a precedent since he believes cabinet members should not be impeached over carrying out policy.
“To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Schumer explained, according to The New York Times.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said after the vote that the dismissal “proves definitively that there was no evidence or Constitutional grounds to justify impeachment.”
“It’s time for Congressional Republicans to support the Department’s vital mission instead of wasting time playing political games and standing in the way of commonsense, bipartisan border reforms,” Ehrenberg added, per The Hill.
