The House of Representatives is set to begin an impeachment inquiry of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on January 10 regarding claims made by Republicans that he has illegally mismanaged the crisis at the southern border.

“For almost three years, the American people have demanded an end to the unprecedented crisis at the Southwest border, and they have also rightly called for Congress to hold accountable those responsible,” the Homeland Security Committee chairman, Mark Green, said in a statement.

Mr. Green alleges that the crisis can be traced to Mr. Mayorkas’s decision-making and refusal to enforce laws passed by Congress and that his failure to fulfill his oath of office “demands accountability.”

In a statement sent to the Sun, the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Bennie Thompson, called the impeachment effort “baseless.”

“No matter how many reports Republicans release, hearings they hold, or Fox News interviews they make, nothing Chairman Green has done this past year has changed the fact that the extreme MAGA Republican effort to impeach Secretary Mayorkas is completely baseless,” Mr. Thompson said.

He added that the Republican majority has “shown the American people it is nothing more than a political stunt without any foundation in the Constitution.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Mia Ehrenberg, said House Republicans are “wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars pursuing a baseless political exercise that has been rejected by members of both parties and already failed on a bipartisan vote.”

“There is no valid basis to impeach Secretary Mayorkas, as senior members of the House majority have attested, and this extreme impeachment push is a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities,” Ms. Ehrenberg added.

The standard for the impeachment of federal officials is bribery, treason, and “other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Republicans have introduced multiple impeachment resolutions against Mr. Mayorkas, beginning shortly after they assumed the majority in 2023.

The most recent impeachment effort was introduced by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in November. The resolution stalled when the House voted 209 to 201 to send the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee. 

Ms. Greene alleges that Mr. Mayorkas has committed a crime by allowing for the “ongoing invasion at our southern border” and that he has failed to “maintain operational control” of the border.

The announcement of impeachment proceedings comes as a bipartisan group of senators works to strike a deal encompassing border security and immigration reform, aid to Ukraine, and aid to Israel. The fate of the bargain in the Senate is unclear.

November marked a new high for border crossings at the southern border in a single month, with 308,000 migrants recorded crossing the border. The previous record was set in September.

Speaker Johnson is leading a group of about 60 House Republicans at an event at Eagle Pass, Texas, Wednesday, alongside Congressman Tony Gonzalez. 

One Republican lawmaker, Congressman Chip Roy, sat out the trip, writing in a letter to his colleagues that “Our people — law enforcement, ranchers, local leaders — are tired of meetings, speeches, and press conferences.”

“So, for those of us who have already witnessed this crisis dozens of times, it’s past that time,” Mr. Roy wrote. “It’s time to act with urgency.”