Blocking impeachment trial would put Schumer’s majority in grave danger

OPINION:

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer should put playing politics aside and follow Senate precedent by allowing a thorough trial of impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas without delay. Failure to do so would put the New York Democrat’s slim 51-49 majority in further danger.

Earlier this month, after a yearlong investigation, the House of Representatives voted to send two articles of impeachment to the Senate to hold Mr. Mayorkas accountable for his failed leadership in orchestrating the invasion of the United States through the southern border. Specifically, the House impeached President Biden’s homeland security chief for “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and a “breach of public trust.”

The Biden-Mayorkas open borders policy is doing great damage to our country and national sovereignty — damage that we’ll be feeling for decades to come. The catastrophe has fueled a fentanyl, humanitarian, and national security crisis so severe that our federal government no longer has operational control of the border. Mexican crime cartels are running amok thanks to the Wild West-type lawlessness that Mr. Mayorkas has presided over for the past three years.

Senate Democrats purposefully ignored the disaster from the moment Mr. Biden opened the border upon taking office and have gleefully allowed 9 million illegal immigrants into our country as a result. For a country that is suffering from a skyrocketing and unsustainable $34 trillion national debt, millions of illegal immigrants put an enormous strain on our already crumbling system. Sadly, this hasn’t stopped the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill from dishing out social services to illegals as quickly as possible while American citizens suffer.

Unfortunately for hardworking American taxpayers, it gets much worse. No one seems to know the exact number of people on the terrorist watchlist who have slipped past authorities in the flood of illegal crossings by people from all over the world. And to top it off, fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Put another way, one American dies of a fentanyl overdose every seven minutes. Mr. Mayorkas saw these country-wrecking trends for three years but chose to do nothing but lie to Congress and obstruct its investigations time and again.

Despite all this, Mr. Schumer threatens to destroy centuries of precedent by postponing consideration of the Mayorkas articles of impeachment without a trial. This would be a colossal mistake for Mr. Schumer and his fellow Democrats for several reasons.

First, throughout American history, the House has voted to send articles of impeachment to the Senate 21 times, and each time, the Senate moved to start a trial. If Mr. Schumer goes through with his foolish strategy, he would essentially render future House impeachment inquiries meaningless because there would be no guarantee that the Senate would even hold a trial.

Second, tens of millions of Americans have seen the border emergency with their own eyes. They want Congress to hold Mr. Mayorkas accountable by removing him from office to limit further damage. By moving to put the articles aside, Mr. Schumer would be sending an unmistakable signal that Senate Democrats support Mr. Mayorkas’ border disaster and want him to continue managing the invasion unimpeded.

Last but not least, Mr. Schumer would put his tiny majority in peril by adopting a “sweep it under the rug” strategy. Democratic incumbents running for reelection in 2024 such as Sens. Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, as well as Arizona independent Kyrsten Sinema, have millions of constituents who believe Mr. Mayorkas should not only be tried by the Senate, but convicted for high crimes and misdemeanors over this border mess.

As Mr. Schumer well knows, because of the Biden administration’s disastrous open border policy, every state in the union is now a border state, including his home state. Big cities like New York and small towns like Massena, New York, are dealing with the effects of Mr. Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty. Before long, every American will be adversely affected.

Americans deserve a proper Senate impeachment trial of Mr. Mayorkas, and Mr. Schumer should not block it.

• David N. Bossie is president of Citizens United and served as deputy campaign manager for Donald J. Trump for President.