Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has provided an update on the looming impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, including when the House impeachment managers will present the articles of impeachment in the Senate. “Please be advised that all Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the day after the articles are presented, and
Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray will preside,” Mr. Schumer wrote, while reminding his fellow Democrat senators that their presence next week “is essential.” It’s estimated that more than 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since President
Joe Biden took office. President Biden and members of his administration have defended their actions on the border, variously blaming a “broken
immigration system,” crime and corruption in illegal immigrants’ home countries, and even climate change, for the problem. Mr. Mayorkas faces two articles of impeachment—the first article charges him with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” while the second article accuses him of “breach of public trust.” This number has soared from 4.7 million in 2022 to 6.2 million in 2023—a jump of over 30 percent. By comparison, the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained rolls was 3.26 million in 2020 and 3.6 million in 2021. “We are now facing a consistent stream of cases highlighted in the news of
aliens allegedly on the terrorists watchlist either being apprehended at the border or discovered in the interior,” they wrote. They cited a recent widely-publicized case in which an individual on the FBI’s terror watchlist was mistakenly not flagged during an initial screening and released into the country. After being allowed to roam free for nearly a year, a subsequent re-screening confirmed the individual as a “terrorist member of al-Shabaab,” leading to his eventual arrest by ICE.
President Trump has made border security a key part of his 2024 presidential campaign platform, promising to undo President Biden’s “open border” policies on day one of his administration, if elected.