Amid growing controversy and concern about Friday's expiration of the pandemic-era Title 42 rules permitting rapid removal of migrants at the border, Republican Rep. Mark Green (TN-07), who also chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, has pledged to explore the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, as the Daily Mail reports.

According to Green, a five-step accountability review of Mayorkas' performance will be utilized to assess what he believes are the secretary's failure to fulfill his duties and to obtain accountability for the American people.

Green Outlines Plan

Though he stopped short of immediately calling for Mayorkas' impeachment, Green explained, “We'll go phase by phase to look at things like laws that had been violated and ignored – you know, the human cost of the border crisis, the financial cost of the border crisis.”

Once that examination is concluded, according to Green, “[w]e're just going to put it all together, and if it looks like it warrants an impeachment, we'll had it off to [House Judiciary Committee Chair] Jim Jordan.”

Green further indicated that hearings are in the process of being planned, and those will help gather and assemble evidence regarding whether impeachment is indeed warranted.

As the Mail noted, Green's remarks came close on the heels of the lower chamber's Thursday passage of an immigration and border security measure on what was, as NBC News noted, almost a completely party-line basis.

Fellow Republicans Signal Agreement

The expiration of Title 42 has long been expected to result in a flood of migrant arrivals at the border hoping to enter the United States, and though such a deluge was not instantly apparent at midnight on Friday, observers suggest that it is only a matter of time before nearby communities and the immigration system are overrun an overwhelmed.

As such, a number of Green's Republican colleagues have joined in blasting Mayorkas' job performance, with many also calling for his impeachment.

Republican House Conference vice chair Mike Johnson (LA-04) said bluntly, according to the Mail, “I think it's our responsibility to rid ourselves of the secretary,” and Rep. Tim Burchett (TN-02) concurred, saying, “I absolutely support impeachment. I think he's a disgrace to the office.”

Though the DHS secretary has tried to shift blame for the current crisis onto Congress for failing to address what he called “a broken, outdated immigration system,” Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden (WI-03) shot back, “That is a cheap shot by a man who is an abject failure. Where was Mayorkas saying this when Democrats had the White House and both chambers of Congress?”

Drumbeat Grows Louder

Demands for Mayorkas' impeachment began well before Title 42 provisions expired on Friday, and articles seeking just such a process have already been filed by multiple lawmakers.

Republican Reps. Pat Fallon (TX-04) and Andy Biggs (AZ-05) each filed their own articles of impeachment against Mayorkas earlier this year.

In support of his arguments for impeachment, Fallon declared, “It is unfortunate that we have gotten to this point, but it is necessary. [Mayorkas] has willfully abdicated his duties as secretary of Homeland Security and actively misled Congress and the American people,” referencing congressional testimony from the Cabinet-level official insisting that the border was secure.

Biggs, for his part, explained, “Secretary Mayorkas is the chief architect of the migration and drug invasion at our southern border. His policies have incentivized more than five million illegal aliens to show up at our southern border – an all-time figure. Instead of enforcing the laws on the books and deporting or detaining these illegal aliens, the vast majority of them are released into the interior and never heard from again.”

Constitutional Contentions

In an op-ed earlier this year, Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, laid out their arguments for Mayorkas' impeachment in an op-ed for The Hill.

Emphasizing their view that “[i]mpeachment was not designed to settle scores or policy difference,” but rather “reserved for holding public officials accountable when they violate the law, abuse the power of their office, or are dishonest with the American people,” the pair goes on to assert that Mayorkas' conduct has met the constitutional qualifications for its use.

Citing what they contend is Mayorkas' violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act through his use of mass-parole of migrants into the U.S., his lax interpretation of asylum requirements, and his misleading statements to Congress, Morgan and Homan come to the conclusion that impeachment is not just required, but constitutionally permissible.

In light of recent reporting from Politico noting that DHS has entered into a contract with high-powered law firm Deveboise & Plimpton for potential impeachment defense representation of both the agency and Mayorkas, it seems that the administration is girding itself for what promises to be a highly contentious battle.