Washington — House Republicans are moving quickly on advancing impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, holding their second and final hearing on the matter in eight days.
“This hearing is about the human costs of Secretary Mayorkas’ egregious misconduct and failure to fulfill his oath of office,” said GOP Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, the committee’s chairman.
Republicans have repeatedly accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce the nation’s laws as a record number of migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. At Thursday’s hearing, lawmakers heard testimony from people whose family members have died as a result of fentanyl overdoses or violent crime.
The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, has criticized the impeachment effort as a “baseless” political attack and Democrats have argued there is no legal basis for impeaching Mayorkas.
Ahead of the hearing, House Republicans and DHS clashed over whether Mayorkas will appear in person during the impeachment proceedings. Republicans wanted Mayorkas to attend this week’s hearing, but he declined, citing a conflicting meeting with Mexican officials about border enforcement. The secretary agreed to testify, but asked to coordinate a time that works for his schedule.
Green on Wednesday asked Mayorkas to provide written testimony for Thursday’s hearing “so that our committee members may hear from you directly,” according to a letter obtained by CBS News. Punchbowl News first reported on the letter.
“As stated in earlier letters to you, your perspective on the crisis at the border and actions you have taken as secretary are valuable for the members of the committee and the American public to hear. Regretfully, every invitation for almost half a year we extended to you to testify focused specifically on the border crisis has been rejected or subject to endless delay tactics,” Green said.
At the hearing, Green accused Mayorkas of playing a game of “cat and mouse” with the committee, telling the media he would cooperate by finding a time to testify while refusing to work with committee staff.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, disputed Green’s claim, calling it “misinformation,” while arguing that the committee’s minority should be able to schedule their own hearing to give Mayorkas the ability to appear.
“Secretary Mayorkas has testified before Congress more than any other Cabinet secretary,” Thompson said. “His willingness to work with the committee has been a welcomed change from the Trump administration, whose official consistently refused to comply with congressional oversight.”
DHS said Mayorkas has testified before Congress 27 times in less than three years. The committee has also not communicated with the department in the last week about alternate dates for Mayorkas to testify, a spokesperson…
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