Battle escalates over second Mayorkas impeachment hearing

Driving the news: Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is moving forward with the second impeachment hearing scheduled Thursday, inviting Mayorkas to submit a written testimony if he can't testify, according to a letter sent to the agency on Wednesday.

• "Regretfully, every invitation for almost half a year we extended to you to testify focused specifically on the border crisis has been rejected or subject to endless delay tactics," Green wrote.
• House Republicans say this was the fourth invitation since August for Mayorkas to testify about the border.
• But the latest letter comes after Mayorkas agreed to make himself available to testify in front of the committee, asking to coordinate on a better time. He is hosting Mexican officials to discuss border policy this week.
• DHS claims Mayorkas has testified before Congress more than any other Cabinet official — 27 times — and has answered numerous border questions from the House Homeland Security committee.
• Punchbowl News first reported on the Wednesday letter.

Between the lines: The exchange is the latest example of Congressional investigators charging the Biden administration with not being forthcoming, and of agency officials accusing Congress of not acting in good faith.

• "This is just the latest example of Committee Republicans' sham process," DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement provided to Axios.
• "It's abundantly clear that they are not interested in hearing from Secretary Mayorkas since it doesn't fit into their bad-faith, predetermined and unconstitutional rush to impeach him," Ehrenberg continued.

What to watch: Republicans plan to focus their second impeachment hearing on the purported effects of the years-long surge in migration at the southern border.

• The panel is set to hear from law enforcement and people who lost family members to violent crime or drug overdoses.