Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey on Wednesday asked Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a high-profile Capitol Hill appearance for Bailey that comes as he faces a tough fight in the Republican race for state attorney general.

Bailey was one of three Republican state attorneys general who testified before the House Homeland Security Committee in its first hearing in the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas.

In his testimony, Bailey accused Mayorkas of refusing to carry out laws passed by Congress. He said Mayorkas has neglected his duty to prevent people from illegally crossing the southern border.

Bailey mentioned lawsuits Missouri has brought against Mayorkas attempting to force the Biden administration to finish building a wall on the southern border and to prevent a 2023 rule that attempted to encourage legal entry into the U.S., called “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways.”

“The secretary has abdicated his official duties,” Bailey said. “He’s in dereliction of duty and should be held accountable.”

The lawsuit over the border wall was filed when Bailey’s predecessor Sen. Eric Schmitt was attorney general. Bailey did not lead the other lawsuit, which was filed in North Dakota alongside 17 other states.

Democrats have dismissed the effort to impeach Mayorkas as a politically-motivated attempt driven by right-wing Republicans. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the ranking member of the homeland security committee, called the hearing a “sham” and the “height of hypocrisy.”

“I have not found any indication that he has committed high crimes and misdemeanors,” Thompson said.

The Biden administration has said House Republicans are performing political stunts rather than substantively dealing with immigration policy. The House passed an immigration bill last year that Democrats deemed too extreme.

Bailey’s testimony came a day after his main GOP opponent, Will Scharf, appeared at a hearing over whether former President Donald Trump has legal immunity, as part of Trump’s legal team. Scharf later stood near Trump during a news conference afterwards.

Bailey was appointed Missouri attorney general a year ago by Republican Gov. Mike Parson. He is seeking election this fall to a full term. Scharf, a lawyer and former policy director under former Gov. Eric Greitens, entered the race in January 2023.

Republicans roared into the 2024 election year criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies at the southern border, as the Senate has been engaged in talks over immigration policy for around a month.

House Republicans have increasingly coalesced around impeaching Mayorkas, claiming that he has abdicated his duties to secure the southern border because of the volume of people illegally crossing. In the 2023 fiscal year, border patrol agents encountered more than 2.4 million people crossing the southern border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

“We’re going to impeach him,” said Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican. “He’s going to be impeached. And he should be. He’s the executive in charge of border policy for the Biden administration.”

Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri who has studied the history of impeachment in the U.S., was the only witness on Wednesday for the Democrats. He repeatedly said he believed that political differences over immigration policy were not historically intended as grounds for impeachment, and pointed out that if the House succeeded, it likely wouldn’t change Biden administration policy.

“Members of this committee disapprove of the Biden administration’s immigration and border policies,” Bowman said. “The Constitution gives this Congress a wealth of legislative powers to change them. Impeachment is not one of those powers.”

The House has not impeached a cabinet secretary since 1876, when the chamber voted unanimously to impeach War Secretary William Belknap, who allegedly received kickback payments for a military appointment, funding his lavish, gilded-age lifestyle. Belknap resigned before the impeachment vote.

If Mayorkas is impeached, he would stand trial in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which would almost certainly not convict him.

On Wednesday, committee witnesses were rarely asked to testify beyond answering yes or no questions as lawmakers railed for or against impeachment. Republicans repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of the crisis, often trying to tie illegal immigration to the rise of fentanyl overdoses throughout the country. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has said most of the fentanyl that enters the country comes through the ports of entry.

Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, criticized the fact that Bailey and Republican attorneys general from Oklahoma and Montana were witnesses, saying they were relying on opinions from politicians who are in the process of suing Mayorkas.

“As far as I can tell, none of your states actually are on the border,” Goldman said. “So I don’t understand why we are sitting here in a quote impeachment hearing with three attorneys general from different states who are Republican officials and have absolutely no expertise on impeachment.”