House panel holds first impeachment hearing for DHS Secretary Mayorkas

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -- House Republicans kicked off their effort Wednesday to impeach the official they blame for the surge in migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Speaker Mike Johnson, (R-La.), gave his stamp of approval as the House Homeland Security Committee held its first formal hearing in the proceedings.

“Congress is now going to have to take the next step to hold him accountable,” Johnson said.

"Our evidence makes it clear Secretary Mayorkas is the architect of the devastation that we have witnessed for nearly three years," said U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-Tenn.), who chairs the committee.

Green said he wants to remove Mayorkas from office because he refuses to enforce immigration laws.

"The secretary has abused his authority and put Americans at risk," Green said. 

But the committee's top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-Miss.) accused Republicans of playing politics. Thompson argued Mayorkas' actions are not high crimes and misdemeanors, the standards the Constitution sets for impeachment.

"This impeachment is a sham," Thompson said.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating with Mayorkas over a sweeping border security package.

"Have been working tirelessly to reach a framework," Mayorkas said Monday during a border press conference.

Mayorkas said the country's immigration laws have to change.

"Our system has not been updated for decades, and yet the landscape of migration is so dynamic and so different than it was years ago," he said. 

However, lawmakers are still divided over policies like parole programs that allow asylum seekers to wait in the U.S. for their court proceedings.

If the House ultimately votes to impeach Mayorkas, the case would go to trial in the Senate to decide whether to convict. The last time lawmakers impeached a cabinet secretary was in the 1800s, and the Senate acquitted him.