Will the Senate reject an impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas? What to know.

WASHINGTON – The House will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, but don't expect a full trial in the upper chamber.

Democrats are expected to promptly dismiss or set aside the proceedings. They've criticized their Republican colleagues for voting to impeach Mayorkas at all, accusing them of misusing a powerful tool over a policy dispute about the country's immigration system.

"As I've said repeatedly, impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday. "That would set a horrible precedent for the Congress."

Senate Republicans, most of whom have repeatedly called for a full impeachment trial in their chamber, plan to make it as challenging as possible for Democrats to derail the impeachment push. However, they're unlikely to have the votes to force a trial.

They argue it would be a historic misstep to dismiss the proceedings before they even begin, pointing out that nearly all of the 21 people who have been impeached by the House underwent a trial, with the exception of one who resigned before the trial could start.

"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," 43 Republican senators wrote in a letter to Schumer Thursday. "The American people deserve to hear the evidence through a Senate trial in the Court of Impeachment."

The House had planned to send the articles last Thursday, but pushed to Tuesday to allow Senate Republicans more time to hammer their Democratic colleagues over the expected dismissal.

Here's what you need to know about the impeachment effort in the Senate.

Why did the House impeach Mayorkas?

The Republican-led House voted to impeach Mayorkas in February by a count of 214-213, making him the second cabinet secretary in American history to be impeached (the first was nearly 150 years ago.) No Democrats supported the effort, and a few Republicans also voted against it.

House Republicans alleged Mayorkas violated the Constitution by deliberately refusing to enforce border security laws.

The impeachment inquiry in the House "demonstrated beyond any doubt that Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and systemically refused to comply with the laws of the United States, and breached the public trust," said House Homeland Security Committee Chair Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., earlier this year.

But Democrats, some Republicans and constitutional law experts have contended that the GOP-led effort uses the impeachment process – typically reserved for conduct considered high crimes and misdemeanors – to settle a policy disagreement about how to address the nation's immigration system. They've accused many Republican lawmakers of effectively weakening a powerful congressional tool.

"We've taken impeachment and we've made it a social media issue as opposed to a Constitutional one," Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told reporters shortly after announcing he would leave Congress early. "This place just keeps going down, and I don't need to spend my time here."

The debate has come amid surging migration to the southern border, with many people fleeing dangerous conditions and economic uncertainty in central and South America and seeking refuge in the United States.

Immigration has become a major issue in the presidential election this fall. In January, immigration was the top problem cited by American voters in a Gallup poll. A February survey from the Pew Research Center found 80% of Americans feel the government is doing a bad job handling the number of migrants at the border.

What will happen this week in the impeachment effort?

House Speaker Mike Johnson signed the articles of impeachment on Monday, beginning the process of transferring the articles to the Senate.

On Tuesday afternoon, the House impeachment managers will walk the articles across the Capitol building to the Senate. They include Green, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Ben Cline, R-Va., Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., Michael Guest, R-Miss., Clay Higgins, R-La. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.

On Wednesday, the articles will be read out loud in Senate, and each senator will be sworn in as a juror in the trial. Then, the Senate will take the first steps in determining how to handle the trial.

Will the Senate hold an impeachment trial?

Schumer has not publicly said exactly how Democrats plan to handle the impeachment articles, but they are expected to table or dismiss them.

That only requires a majority vote, which Democrats seemingly have.

But Senate Republicans – spurred on by a group of ultraconservatives incensed about Democrats' push to not hold a full trial – plan to make it as painful as possible for the majority by dragging out proceedings and, if possible, demanding multiple votes on conservative priorities in exchange for speeding it up.

"If you're so confident that the charges against Secretary Mayorkas are baseless, then why not hold a trial?" Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said on the floor last week. "This is exactly what it looks like when someone is aware that there is a problem and wants to sweep the problem under the rug... You can't hide this."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to expect in Alejandro Mayorkas impeachment proceedings