WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — The Senate has opened the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The swearing in of senators as jurors took place early Wednesday afternoon.

 

In the meantime, Democrats said they wanted to end the trial before arguments even begin.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that he will move to dismiss the trial, arguing that House Republicans’ two impeachment articles “fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent.

“For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said as he opened the Senate.

The House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas for his handling of the border, arguing in the two articles that he “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws.

House impeachment managers delivered the charges to the Senate on Tuesday, standing in the well of the Senate and reading them aloud to the senators.

Now that the senators are sworn in, the chamber will turn into the court of impeachment, with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington presiding. Murray is the president pro tempore of the Senate, or the senior-most member of the majority party who sits in for the vice president.

The entire process might be done within hours.

Schumer said he will seek an agreement from Republicans for a period of debate — an offer they are unlikely to accept — and then allow some Republican objections. He will them move to dismiss the trial and hold a vote.

To win that vote, Schumer will need the support of all of the Senate’s Democrats and three independents.

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