Congressional Republicans are sniping with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about whether — and when — he will testify as part of the new impeachment proceedings against him.
Rep. Mark Green, who is leading the impeachment effort as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, accused Mr. Mayorkas on Thursday of rebuffing invitations to appear in his own defense.
Mr. Green said he’s been asking Mr. Mayorkas since last summer to testify specifically about the border chaos, including a new entreaty last week to appear on Jan. 18. The Tennessee Republican said the secretary wouldn’t accept that invite.
But the department, in a letter Thursday, said Mr. Mayorkas wants to appear, subject to discussions about the “date and structure” of the hearing.
Next week’s date doesn’t work, the department said, because Mr. Mayorkas is in the middle of important work on border security, including a meeting with Mexican officials.
That explanation irked Mr. Green.
“Yet again, this secretary is putting the interests of Mexico ahead of the American people,” he said. “Apparently, he needs to be reminded that Congress is a coequal branch of government, and our committee, not Mexico, has oversight over his department.”
Zephranie Buetow, Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs, said in a letter responding to Mr. Green’s invitation that Mr. Mayorkas has already testified personally on Capitol Hill more than his predecessors did at this point in the Trump administration.
That includes three hearings in the past three months.
Still, Mr. Mayorkas will accept Mr. Green’s latest invite at some point, Ms. Buetow noted.
“In keeping with the secretary’s commitment to cooperate with congressional committees, he will make himself available to testify before the committee,” she wrote.
A congressional source said that letter was sent before Mr. Green publicly blasted Mr. Mayorkas over the dispute.
When the congressman first prodded the secretary for border testimony last August, impeachment proceedings were only hypothetical.
They became concrete Wednesday as the Homeland Security Committee held its first official impeachment hearing, giving the GOP a chance to air its case.
Without Mr. Mayorkas in attendance next week, the committee will hear from “victims” of the border crisis, Mr. Green said.
Mr. Mayorkas’ defenders say Republicans are pursuing impeachment over policy differences, not the “high crimes and misdemeanors” required by the Constitution.
Mr. Green says Mr. Mayorkas has lied to Congress and the public, is willfully failing to carry out the laws under his purview, and has been incompetent at stopping the border chaos, so his ouster is deserved.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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