House Republicans move closer to rare move of impeaching DHS Secretary Mayorkas

House Republicans will hold a markup of their impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, moving closer to taking the rare step of impeaching a Cabinet official.

The House Homeland Security Committee will mark up its resolution claiming Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors for his handling of the southern border, even though a number of constitutional experts have said the evidence does not reach that high bar.

The controversial move would make Mayorkas the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.

The impeachment effort comes as House Republicans have faced building pressure from their base to hold the Biden administration accountable on a key campaign issue: the border.

While Republicans have been investigating Mayorkas’ handling of the border since they reclaimed the House majority, their impeachment inquiry has moved swiftly in the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson has promised to move the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to the floor quickly, and has signaled he will reject a bipartisan deal being negotiated in the Senate that would address border policies.

While senior House Republicans are confident they have the support to impeach the DHS secretary, they can lose only two votes given their narrow majority. Republicans are planning a whip check this week to take the temperature of the conference, a GOP source told CNN.

House GOP Whip Tom Emmer told CNN ahead of the markup that he is counting votes, but added: “We are going to have…