A group of Senate Republicans is urging Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to press for a “proper” impeachment trial for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The House impeached Mayorkas last week on charges of willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust. A week after initially falling short, the measure cleared the House by a single vote. 

Mayorkas’ impeachment now heads to the Democratic-led Senate, where it faces long odds of receiving the two-thirds vote needed to convict Mayorkas and remove him from office. The House is expected to deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.

According to multiple reports, Senate Democrats have been discussing ways to avoid a full trial, either by quickly voting to dismiss the charges, indefinitely tabling the articles of impeachment or referring them to a committee, effectively killing them.

In a letter to McConnell on Tuesday, 13 Senate Republicans, led by Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, wrote that multiple briefings by McConnell’s staff have also indicated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic lawmakers “intend to dispense with the articles of impeachment by simply tabling both individually.”

“This is an action rarely contemplated and never taken by the U.S. Senate in the history of our Republic,” the Senate Republicans wrote. “It remains to be seen if the Senate rules will even allow us to brush aside our duty in this manner.”

The GOP lawmakers added that if Republicans attempted to block a Democratic-led impeachment, “the opposition would be fierce and the volume from Democrats would be deafening.”

“We call on you to join us in our efforts to jettison this approach by Democrats to shirk their Constitutional duty, ensure that the Senate conducts a proper trial, and that every Senator, Republican and Democrat, adjudicates this matter when the Senate returns,” the Republicans wrote.

McConnell’s office did not respond to an email from Spectrum News seeking comment Tuesday.

Schumer has not yet said publicly how he plans to proceed. After the House impeached Mayorkas, the majority leader issued a statement saying: “This sham impeachment effort is another embarrassment for House Republicans. The one and only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker [Mike] Johnson to further appease Donald Trump. … House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense. This is a new low for House Republicans.”

While the Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to try all impeachments, there is precedent for votes being held to dismiss charges, including in Bill Clinton’s 1999 and Trump’s 2021 presidential impeachment trials. Both attempts, however, failed.

Dismissing the charges would need a simple majority vote. 

Axios reported that Lee and Cruz met last week with the Senate parliamentarian, who interprets Senate rules and precedent, to argue that the impeachment articles should not be quickly set aside. The parliamentarian has not yet provided a formal response, according to the report. 

House Republicans argue Mayorkas’ refusal to enforce laws passed by Congress has led to a crisis at the southwest border and accuse him of making false statements in congressional hearings and obstructing oversight. 

Democratic lawmakers, former Homeland Security secretaries and many constitutional law experts — including some conservatives — have argued none of the allegations meet the constitutional standard of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Mayorkas has called the claims “false,” insisting he’s been working to address an immigration system whose problems predate his tenure and that he has been responsive to congressional oversight.

Mayorkas is just the second Cabinet official in U.S. history to be impeached and the first since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 over corruption allegations. Belknap was acquitted in the Senate.