(Washington) The Senate trial of US Immigration Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to begin in mid-April, US Congressional officials said on Thursday.
In the middle of an election year, immigration has emerged as one of the key issues of the campaign.
Republicans in Congress accuse Mr Mayorkas, secretary to Democratic President Joe Biden, of provoking a crisis at the US-Mexico border.
In mid-February, they indicted this secretary in the House of Representatives – the first step in impeachment proceedings.
The procedure then requires that the indictment of Alejandro Mayorkas be transmitted to the Senate, which will take place on April 10.
At the end of the debates, the 100 senators will vote on each article. A two-thirds majority is required to convict, in which case dismissal is automatic and without appeal.
Otherwise, Alejandro Mayorkas will be acquitted.
In any case, the US Senate is currently in Democratic hands, making an impeachment of the secretary very unlikely.
The main person concerned, Alejandro Mayorkas, has repeatedly rejected the Republicans’ accusations, accusing them of “wasting precious time and taxpayers’ money” with the impeachment procedure.
The situation nonetheless remains a headache for Joe Biden, less than nine months before the presidential election.
Republicans, most of them close to former President Donald Trump with his very anti-immigration rhetoric, accuse the Democratic president of having allowed the country to be “invaded”, taking as an example the record number of migrants arrested at the border , 302,000 in December.
The Democrats brush aside this procedure, accusing the Republicans of making the secretary a scapegoat in the middle of an election year.