Lankford, GOP Senators Demand Schumer Hold Mayorkas Impeachment Trial

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), along with their Republican colleagues, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling on the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty by holding a trial to consider the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The Senators wrote, “Our brave men and women at Customs and Border Protection have worked tirelessly to make our nation safer, yet with 7.5 million encounters since President Biden took office, our southern border is a national security disaster. Encounters in fiscal year 2023 increased a startling 440 percent over fiscal year 2020. The border crisis under Secretary Mayorkas has become a nightmare for the American people.”

They continued, “The House of Representatives has considered this evidence and impeached Secretary Mayorkas. Our constitutional duty requires the Senate to hold a trial. In every previous congressional impeachment of the past 227 years, Congress has been faithful to the process set out by the framers… Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best.”

Lankford and Graham were joined on the letter by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN). 

Read the full text of the letter here or below.

Dear Leader Schumer: 

We write to demand that the Senate uphold its constitutional responsibility to properly adjudicate the House of Representatives’ impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Since 2021, Secretary Mayorkas has abdicated control of America’s borders to a magnitude unparalleled in our Nation’s history. Our brave men and women at Customs and Border Protection have worked tirelessly to make our nation safer, yet with 7.5 million encounters since President Biden took office, our southern border is a national security disaster.

Encounters in fiscal year 2023 increased a startling 440 percent over fiscal year 2020. The border crisis under Secretary Mayorkas has become a nightmare for the American people. The lives of innocent young Americans are cut short through the scourge of fentanyl that flows freely across our borders. Children are run out of their schools and playgrounds while priority is given to host migrants. Police officers are assaulted in our streets. Violent gang members and criminals are ferried to our cities on the government dime, where they amass stores of weapons and commit murder and mass robberies. ISIS terrorists grow smart to the situation at the border—and send their sympathizers to our shores.

The House of Representatives has considered this evidence and impeached Secretary Mayorkas. Our constitutional duty requires the Senate to hold a trial. In every previous congressional impeachment of the past 227 years, Congress has been faithful to the process set out by the framers. The House of Representatives exercised its sole “Power of Impeachment” under Article 1, section 2 and the Senate bore its sole solemn duty to “try all Impeachments” under Article I, section 3. The Supreme Court held that, “the House is given the right to accuse and the Senate is given the right to judge.” Nixon v. United States, 506 US 224, 236 (1993). Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best.

Two-hundred and twenty-seven years of Senate history mandates a trial. Alexander Hamilton described the power to try impeachments as an “important trust,” bestowed to the Senate. The framers expected that the Senate would be “endowed with so eminent a portion of fortitude” for execution of “so difficult a task.” This was high praise and a solemn responsibility placed on this body by those who fought to earn our independence as a nation.

Since 1797, 21 individuals have been impeached by the House of Representatives. Trials were held in every single instance, except once when an impeached judge resigned from office before trial commenced. Absent Secretary Mayorkas’ immediate resignation, this impeachment should remain faithful to Senatorial precedent. 

In the face of the disaster that mounts daily at our southern border, and in communities across America, the House of Representatives has formally accused Alejandro Mayorkas of demeaning his office. The American people deserve to hear the evidence through a Senate trial in the Court of Impeachment.

Therefore, we implore you to hold a trial, as has been done in every similar case in the Senate’s 235 years of existence.

Sincerely,

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