US lawmakers introduced articles of impeachment on Sunday against US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The articles of impeachment allege that Mayorkas failed to comply with US law and breached public trust in his handling of the US-Mexico border and immigration matters. The articles mark the second time in American history that lawmakers have introduced articles of impeachment against a presidential cabinet secretary.

Mayorkas quickly decried the “unconstitutional and evidence free impeachment” shortly after the announcement. The DHS secretary faces scrutiny from Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives who allege that the DHS has failed to curb the flow of migrants across the southern border in recent months.

The 20-page impeachment resolution was filed by House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN). The impeachment resolution claims Mayorkas “has willfully and systematically refused to comply with Federal immigration laws” and, “in violation of his oath to well and faithfully discharge the duties of his office, has breached the public trust.”

In leveling these two charges against Mayorkas, the lawmakers highlighted Mayorkas’ alleged failure to detain migrants crossing into the US without permission and DHS’s hesitancy to quickly remove migrants without a valid asylum claim. The lawmakers who introduced the articles claimed that Mayorkas failed to detain migrants awaiting a determination on their asylum applications “to the grave detriment of the interests of the United States.” The lawmakers also claimed that “Mayorkas knowingly made false statements to Congress that the border is ‘secure’—among other statements leveled agains the secretary. Though some legal experts have questioned the lawmakers’ bases for the charges.

The Republican-controlled House Homeland Security Committee will take up the proposed impeachment articles during a 10:00AM EST hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The introduction of the impeachment articles against Mayorkas come amid escalating political tensions surrounding the US-Mexico border. In recent months, tensions have particularly spiked along the Texas portion of the border.

This past week, the US Supreme Court allowed federal officials to remove razor wire Texas state officials had installed along the southern border. Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, Abbott stated would defy the court, continue to impede federal authorities and invoke Texas’s right to declare war on migrants.

The 5-4 decision in favor of the federal government came only a week after a federal appeals court ordered the rehearing of a case regarding Texas’s installation of floating barriers along a portion of the Rio Grande River separating the US and Mexico. At the state level, Texas Governor Greg Abbott also recently signed into law a new bill allowing for Texas authorities to arrest undocumented immigrants—including those who may lawfully seek asylum in the US.

Federal lawmakers, for their part, are reportedly considering a sweeping series of changes to federal immigration law that would “shut-down” the border based on daily numerical migrant caps and bar some migrants paroled into the country from applying for asylum. Although US President Joe Biden strongly supports “tougher border control,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Republican colleagues on Friday that the language is “dead on arrival” in the House.