By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday condemned President Joe Biden's top border official during an impeachment hearing over record numbers of migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
Representative Mark Green, Republican chairman of the committee leading the impeachment effort, said in opening remarks that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had intentionally encouraged illegal immigration with lax policies.
"The secretary's actions have brought us here today, not ours," Green said, calling Mayorkas "the architect of the devastation" at the border.
The impeachment effort is the culmination of years of Republican criticism of Biden's border management and the Democratic president's moves to reverse hardline policies of former Republican President Donald Trump.
Democrats and some Senate Republicans have questioned the attempt to remove Mayorkas over a policy dispute, which legal experts say does not satisfy the high standard for impeachment.
Border security is a core issue for Republican base voters and the party has intensified its criticism of Biden’s policies in the run-up to Nov. 5 elections. Biden is seeking reelection and Trump is the leading candidate for his party's nomination.
The only secretary to ever be impeached was former President Ulysses S. Grant's secretary of war in 1876 following allegations of corruption, demonstrating the exceptional nature of the proceedings.
Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, called the impeachment effort a "circus sideshow" crafted by Republicans "to try to distract from their own failures" to address border security.
Thompson criticized Republicans for rejecting a White House proposal that combined military aid for Ukraine with about $14 billion to hire additional border agents, asylum officers and immigration judges, among other funding priorities.
Republicans have insisted Democrats agree to stringent border controls, complicating talks to pass legislation to fund the U.S. government by Jan. 19 and avert a partial shutdown.
HIGH STANDARD FOR IMPEACHMENT
Trump was impeached twice by the then Democratic-controlled House in 2019 and 2021 but was acquitted both times by the Senate. Republicans, who took control of the House in 2021, have weaponized impeachment in recent weeks, also launching an inquiry into whether Biden improperly benefited from his son Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law school professor and impeachment expert, testified on Wednesday that Republicans had not provided evidence that Mayorkas had committed potentially impeachable actions such as corruption, abuse of power or subversion of the U.S. Constitution.
"Whatever may be the grounds for impeachment and removal, dislike of a president's policy is certainly not one of them," Bowman said, quoting the late constitutional scholar Charles Black.
House Republicans strongly support the impeachment effort but can only afford to lose a small number of votes with a 220-213 advantage over Democrats. Even if Mayorkas is impeached by the House, he is unlikely to be convicted in a trial in the Democratic-majority Senate.
During a visit on Monday to the Texas-Mexico border, Mayorkas called on Congress to reform immigration laws and provide more border security funding.
"There is nothing that I take more seriously than our responsibility to uphold the law," he said.
Mayorkas was invited to testify at a second impeachment hearing planned for Jan. 18 but has not yet confirmed attendance, a congressional aide said.
Republican attorneys general from Missouri, Montana and Oklahoma testified at Wednesday's hearing, criticizing Mayorkas and saying illegal immigration had hurt their states by saddling them with additional costs for healthcare and other services.
The officials sought to link U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths to illegal entries although the vast majority of such drug seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border occur at legal crossings.