Homeland Security’s Mayorkas expresses ‘confidence’ facing potential Senate impeachment trial

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is dismissing an effort by congressional Republicans to remove him from office ahead of a potential Senate impeachment trial that could start this week.

House Republican lawmakers approved articles of impeachment against him in February with a slim majority, and against bipartisan opposition, accusing the secretary of willfully refusing to uphold U.S. immigration law at the southern border.

House impeachment managers are expected to walk over the articles to the Senate on Wednesday. But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, has indicated that a simple majority of the chamber could vote to dismiss the charges before a trial even begins, and multiple Republican senators have suggested they agree that the charges are baseless.

In an interview with McClatchy, Mayorkas said he is confident the case would be resolved swiftly.

“The senators are going to fulfill their responsibility,” he said. “I am confident of that. I am confident in the job that I am doing, the focus that I have on the work.”

“I am not distracted by the impeachment proceedings,” he added. “There is too much work across the entire mission set of the Department of Homeland Security that can ill afford my distraction.”