House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced Thursday in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., that the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be sent over to the Senate on April 10, when lawmakers return from recess.

What You Need To Know

  • The articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be sent over to the Senate on April 10, House Speaker Mike Johnson and his GOP impeachment managers wrote in a letter Thursday

  • The House narrowly approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas last month in a rebuke of President Joe Biden's immigration policies

  • In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office said that "after the House impeachment managers present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day"

  • Given that the Senate is currently controlled by a 51-seat Democratic majority and several Republicans have expressed skepticism about impeaching Mayorkas, it's extremely unlikely that lawmakers will reach the two-thirds threshold -- 67 votes -- to convict and remove him from office; the Democratic-led Senate also could move to quickly dismiss the trial

The House narrowly approved articles of impeachment against Mayorkas last month in a rebuke of President Joe Biden's immigration policies. The measure passed by one vote, 214-213, after failing to garner enough support the week prior in an embarrassing defeat for Republicans.

"We urge you to schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously," Johnson and his Republican impeachment managers wrote in the letter to Schumer on Thursday.

In a statement, Schumer's office said that "after the House impeachment managers present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day." Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate President Pro Tempore, will preside over the trial, Schumer's office noted.

Mayorkas faces two charges in the impeachment: Failure to comply with Federal immigration laws and breaching the public trust. 

Republicans charge that Mayorkas "refused to comply with the requirements of the immigration laws passed by Congress" and "directed, through a series of memoranda, DHS employees to violate U.S. immigration laws," all the while "repeatedly" lying "to Congress and the American people about the scope of the crisis and his role in it."

The White House and Democrats have repeatedly decried the impeachment as a "sham," and Republicans in the upper chamber have similarly expressed skepticism about the proceedings. On Thursday after Johnson's letter, the White House pointed to statements from nine Republican senators panning the impeachment, including Alabama's Tommy Tuberville, who called it a "waste of time" and North Carolina's Thom Tillis, who said that the House GOP is "taking a fast track to using impeachment without doing their homework."

President Joe Biden, who himself faces a House Republican-led impeachment inquiry, called it a "political stunt."

"History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games," Biden said last month shortly after the House GOP passed the impeachment articles against Mayorkas. "Instead of staging political stunts like this, Republicans with genuine concerns about the border should want Congress to deliver more border resources and stronger border security."

Given that the Senate is currently controlled by a 51-seat Democratic majority and several Republicans have expressed skepticism about impeaching Mayorkas, it's extremely unlikely that lawmakers will reach the two-thirds threshold -- 67 votes -- to convict and remove him from office. The Democratic-led Senate also could move to quickly dismiss the trial.

"We call upon you to fulfill your constitutional obligation to hold this trial," the letter reads. "The American people demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible. To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve."

The Republican impeachment managers for the trial are: House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.m Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.

Mayorkas is only the second Cabinet secretary to face impeachment, nearly 150 years after the last impeachment of a presidential adviser. The only other Cabinet official to be impeached was Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 over corruption allegations. The Senate acquitted him.

Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report.