Mayorkas impeachment DELAYED: Speaker Mike Johnson pushes back sending articles to the Senate after Republicans whined a failed vote would ruin their 'news cycle'

Speaker Mike Johnson is delaying sending the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate after pressure from his GOP colleagues.

The latest development in the ongoing Mayorkas impeachment saga comes just one day before the Senate was set to receive the impeachment articles, which would have immediately started a trial for Biden's embattled border chief. 

A spokesperson for Speaker Johnson said that 'to ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week.'

'There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,' Taylor Haulsee told DailyMail.com. 

Whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer actually decides to hold a trial, however, is up in the air. 

And some Republicans had concerns that Schumer would use the late Wednesday delivery to try and send senators home over the weekend without holding a trial at all. 

'Many House and Senate members think Johnson’s timing is dumb, because a Wednesday night delivery [and] Thursday afternoon floor fight aren’t enough time to win the news cycle and to hammer the fight in Washington,' a senior Senate aide told DailyMail.com earlier Tuesday.

Migrants mostly form Central America wait in line to cross the border at the Gateway International Bridge into the US from Matamoros, Mexico

The House passed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in February, but Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to deliver the articles to the Senate

It was reported that Johnson was planning on sending the articles to the Senate on Wednesday, but after opposition to that plan from GOP Senators, the articles will now be delivered next week

Embattled DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas was formally impeached by the House in February over his handling of the southern border migrant crisis

Outspoken Senator Mike Lee of Utah told DailyMail.com that Johnson agreed to delaying the transmission of the articles in order to ensure the Senate has proper time to litigate the matter. 

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., agreed, saying Schumer had simply planned to jam the entire impeachment into a shortened week, not giving the Senate enough time to discuss the charges the House brought against Mayorkas.

'Now originally, Senator Schumer had planned to do this on a Thursday when everybody is trying to get back to their district. Isn't that special,' he said at a press conference Tuesday.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also took issue with Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer's anticipated plan to quickly quash the impeachment trial in the Senate.  

'Chuck Schumer intends to nuke the impeachment clause of the United States Constitution,' he said.

'And make no mistake if this precedent is set, it will not be the last time it is used.' 

'This is a crime against America. The American people deserve accountability,' Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told DailyMail.com. 

Embattled DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas was formally impeached by the House in February over his handling of the southern border migrant crisis.

The two articles of impeachment accuse Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration law and lying to Congress about the state of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House, meanwhile, has called Republican-led impeachment effort a 'petty political' move, saying 'history will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship.'

House GOP Whip Tom Emmer told DailyMail.com that if Senate Democrats dismiss Mayorkas impeachment articles before even holding a trial, 'they will be defying their Constitutional duty to their constituents and betraying Americans who have suffered under the worst border crisis in our history.'

'Voters won’t forget this dereliction of duty, and we will remind them of the Schumer Senate’s negligence every day until Election Day.'

Texas National Guard soldiers install border fencing layered with concertina wire near the Rio Grande river on April 2

Immigrants file into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection bus after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border

Mayorkas, however, has overseen consecutive record breaking years for migrant apprehensions. Apprehension records were set in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Last year alone, over 2.4 million migrants were apprehended while crossing into the U.S., according to Customs and Border Protection data, yet another record.