Republicans began the first in a series of congressional hearings meant to investigate whether Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was derelict in his duties.

The House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday began an investigation into how Mayorkas has handled the nation's border for the nearly 2 1/2 years that President Joe Biden has been in office.

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"This is not a case of negligence. If it were, the implications would be different. The remedy would be different," Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said during the hearing. "Intentional sabotage of the rule of law is something entirely different. It is an affront to the separation of powers to the institutional authority of the Congress, under the Constitution, and it invites another remedy — and that is impeachment."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a House Freedom Caucus member, agreed and called for Mayorkas to be "impeached."

Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) steered clear of any mention of impeachment and focused his opening remarks, line of questioning, and closing statements on how Mayorkas had changed immigration policies.

Green reiterated in the inaugural meeting that this series of hearings is intended to dig up the truth, but Democrats have slammed Republicans for already having their minds made up on the matter.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) poked at Republicans ahead of the hearing.

"The GOP has noticed a bogus 'investigatory' hearing into @SecMayorkas that they are comically calling a 'Closed Case,'" Goldman tweeted.

"Americans have gotten used to political theater from congressional Republicans, but this hearing is a new low," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the ranking member on the committee. "You don’t have to look further than the title to know this hearing is a sham. Calling a hearing and saying 'case closed' before you’ve heard any testimony is not legitimate oversight."

Thompson said in a statement issued after the hearing that he believed Republicans "predetermined they would move to impeach him months ago."

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Republicans initially took the House back in January and focused their efforts on passing a large set of bills that would toughen up border and immigration policies. The legislation passed in a House vote but was effectively dead on arrival in the Senate because of the Democrats' majority.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), a senior member on the committee, said the GOP believed that people would come to the same conclusion about Mayorkas as his colleagues as a result of the hearing.