Top Republican brushes off Mayorkas offer to testify at impeachment hearing

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives committee overseeing an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over
illegal immigration on Wednesday brushed aside the border chief’s offer to testify in his defense.
The committee said in a press release that Mayorkas had refused to testify in recent months despite “repeated invitations” and that it would move ahead with a hearing next week featuring “victims of Secretary Mayorkas’ border crisis.”
The response came after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a letter to the committee saying Mayorkas was willing to discuss possible dates to testify.
Republicans have increasingly focused on illegal immigration, an animating issue for their base voters, in the run-up to Nov. 5 elections that will decide control of the White House and Congress. The party kicked off impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas on Wednesday during a hearing where they blamed him for record levels of migrants attempting to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.