House Republicans move forward to impeach homeland security head

House Republicans are barreling ahead with their effort to impeach homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, part of a broader effort to make immigration and border security a defining issue of this year’s presidential election.

The House homeland security committee will hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, after more than a year of intensifying attacks by Republicans, who have accused Mayorkas of being derelict in his duty to secure the US-Mexico border. If Republicans are successful, Mayorkas would be the first cabinet secretary impeached in nearly 150 years.

Thousands of migrants are arriving at the southern US border each day, straining border patrol resources and causing strain to the authorities and services in many cities and towns across the country. The situation is an acute political vulnerability for the president, who has been unable to stem the record number of migrants from across the western hemisphere traveling north to escape violence, political upheaval, poverty and natural disasters.

The inquiry into Mayorkas’s handling of the nation’s borders is being led by the House homeland security committee, as opposed to the House judiciary committee, which typically oversees impeachment proceedings but is focused on the separate impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.

Unease among some House Republicans over the effort to impeach Biden despite a failure to uncover any evidence of misconduct has appeared to only strengthen the party’s appetite for charging Mayorkas within the constitutional impeachment criteria that he has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors”.

In November, eight House Republicans joined with Democrats to shelve an effort to force a snap impeachment of Mayorkas led by far-right