House delivers Alejandro Mayorkas impeachment articles to Senate

April 16 (UPI) -- The House of Representatives sent articles of impeachment to the Senate on Tuesday in an effort to remove Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the U.S. border.

House Speaker Mike Johnson forwarded the articles of impeachment after a one-week delay, CNN and ABC News reported.

The House in February voted 214-213 to impeach Mayorkas and charged him with willfully refusing to comply with federal law to enforce the nation's borders and a breach of public trust.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate will expedite the impeachment proceedings.

Schumer said the Senate will swear in jurors on Wednesday and Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., will preside over the impeachment proceedings and Senate vote.

Schumer accused the House GOP of an "abuse of process" and using impeachment to "settle a policy disagreement" regarding the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. border and the recent influx of migrants.

"This would set an awful precedent for Congress," Schumer said. "Every time there's a policy disagreement in the House, they send it over here to tie the Senate in knots and do an impeachment trial?"

GOP members told The Hill they expect Schumer to hold a vote Wednesday to dismiss the impeachment charges or appoint a special committee to address the matter.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, previously said Schumer "doesn't want to hold the Mayorkas impeachment trial because it will show how bad the crisis truly is."

Sen. John Kennedy, R. La., said Schumer and Senate Democrats would prefer to ignore the matter while the "border crisis is bringing death, drugs, violence, chaos, criminals and mayhem into American neighborhoods."