On Thursday, Senator Rick Scott joined Senator Lindsey Graham and 41 of their Republican Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) calling on the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty by holding a trial to consider the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The senators wrote, “Our brave men and women at Customs and Border Protection have worked tirelessly to make our nation safer, yet with 7.5 million encounters since President Biden took office, our southern border is a national security disaster. Encounters in fiscal year 2023 increased a startling 440% over fiscal year 2020. The border crisis under Secretary Mayorkas has become a nightmare for the American people.”
They continued, “The House of Representatives has considered this evidence and impeached Secretary Mayorkas. Our constitutional duty requires the Senate to hold a trial. In every previous congressional impeachment of the past 227 years, Congress has been faithful to the process set out by the framers… Never before has the Senate abandoned this duty, even when certain members believed the basis for impeachment was tenuous at best.”
The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), John Boozman (R-Arkansas), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Ted Budd (R-North Carolina), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri), Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), and Todd Young (R-Indiana).
Read the full text of the letter HERE.
