The first impeachment hearing Wednesday for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas devolved into a debate over whether President Joe Biden’s border policy amounted to high crimes and misdemeanors.

In a four-hour event that pitted Democratic lawmakers against the majority GOP, Democrats repeatedly questioned the legal grounds for the proceedings in the House Homeland Security Committee. They charged Republicans with waging a politically driven show during an election year over nothing more than differences in opinion on immigration issues.

“It’s now campaign season, and Republicans recently rolled out their impeachment proceedings against the secretary like the preplanned, predetermined political stunt it is,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) during his opening remarks. “Republicans want to throw political red meat to their base and keep that campaign cash coming.”

Other Democrats piled on, including Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who said the committee spent all of 2023 conducting hearings where witnesses testified about the impacts of the border crisis, where more immigrants have been encountered attempting to enter the United States illegally than any other time.

“It’s the same hearing we’ve had 10, 12 times. Same pig, different lipstick because we’re now going to call it an impeachment hearing,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY).

Since last January, when Republicans took control of the House, the committee has conducted 15 hearings on the border crisis in addition to other border-related hearings before other panels. Five of the 15 hearings were part of the committee’s effort to investigate whether Mayorkas was derelict of duty.

“After a thorough yearlong investigation, this committee is following the Constitution and procedure as directed by the House’s vote this past November,” said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN). “Make no mistake — attacks on the integrity of this process are meant to distract you from the deadly consequences of our open border.”

But Thompson pushed back on the committee’s initial focus on investigating Mayorkas on the basis of “dereliction of duty,” saying it’s not a high crime or misdemeanor.

“You cannot impeach a Cabinet secretary because you don’t like a president’s policies. That’s not what impeachment is for. That’s not what the Constitution says,” Thompson said.

Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), slammed Mayorkas for the 8 million immigrants who have been encountered at the border over the past three years, as well as 1.8 million who were observed entering illegally but evaded arrest.

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the DHS issued a memo on Tuesday evening, preemptively rejecting claims that it anticipated Republicans would bring in the hearing.

The DHS memo touted the removal of more than 1 million illegal immigrants in each of the government’s 2022 and 2023 years, more than any previous administration has ever deported in a year.

“Before 2013, the majority of noncitizens attempting to cross the border entered without being caught,” the department wrote in the document. “Under this Administration, the estimated annual apprehension rate has averaged 78%, identical to the rate of the prior Administration.”

Mayorkas’s office touted the DHS’s seizure of more fentanyl than any previous administration, an indication of the seriousness that it was taking the drug epidemic.

The DHS memo rehashed statements by Republican lawmakers not on the committee who have said the impeachment effort did not have legal standing, including statements from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), a member of the U.S. Congressional Border Security Caucus.

The Biden administration has touted dips, including this month’s, as evidence its border policies are deterring immigrants from crossing illegally. However, each was short-lived.

Migration throughout the Western Hemisphere surged as a result of economic instability brought on, in part, by the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans have blamed Biden’s walking back Trump administration policies as sending a message beyond the borders that communicated it would not deport illegal immigrants.

“What Americans must understand today is that these historic numbers … are the result of a much deeper problem, and that problem is not instability in other countries. It is not poverty. It is not climate change. It is not a supposedly ‘broken immigration system,’” Green said. “All of these excuses have long predated Secretary Mayorkas’ tenure, and yet, we have never experienced a crisis like this.”

Green argued that Mayorkas had engaged in a “willful violation of the oath of office.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Let me be clear: No one is supporting impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas over policy differences,” Green said. “The impeachable offenses relate to violations of the law insisting on enforcing the law as written by Congress. It’s not a policy difference. It is a fundamental requirement of the Constitution.”

The committee has invited Mayorkas to appear on Jan. 18, though Mayorkas has not indicated if he will attend.