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April 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday delayed sending articles of impeachment to the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas until Monday in order to help Republicans in their argument ahead of a possible trial. "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," a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN.
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"There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial," Johnson's office said.
House Republicans originally had planned to send over the articles of impeachment to the Senate on April 10.
"We are ready to go whenever they are," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Tuesday, saying that Senate Democrats are ready to act on the Mayorkas articles of impeachment in the chamber, which is controlled by Democrats 51 to 49.
"We are sticking with our plan. We're going to move this as expeditiously as possible," the New York Democrat said Tuesday amid ongoing questions as to how some moderate Democrats up for re-election this year may end up voting.
On social media, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican up for re-election this year, claimed that Schumer "doesn't want to hold the Mayorkas impeachment trial because it will show how bad the crisis truly is."
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, echoed the sentiments of Cruz, saying that Schumer "wants to ignore this responsibility" to act on the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas, despite many viewing the charges as being politically motivated.
"The Senate still has a responsibility to conduct a trial, and no excuse to table the articles of impeachment," Lee wrote on X.
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy joined his Republican colleagues, saying that Senate Democrats look at the idea of impeaching Mayorkas "like spam that landed in their in-box."
"Meanwhile, the border crisis is bringing death, drugs, violence, chaos, criminals, and mayhem into American neighborhoods," Kennedy said Tuesday on social media.
But a Republican strategist and Washington, D.C.-based radio host said Tuesday that the House Republicans' desire to impeach Mayorkas "represents a slippery slope for the country and won't reap any rewards for the GOP."
"But Speaker Johnson had to cater to the right wing of our party, clamoring for him to act on it," George W. Bush-appointee Melik Abdul posted on X.
On Tuesday, the National Immigration Forum called on Congress "to focus on immigration solutions, not impeach Mayorkas."
"We urge Congress to invest energy on solutions that will further secure our border and treat migrants with dignity," Jennie Murray, the president and CEO, put on X.
