Even while on recess, House Republicans are attempting to hold the homeland security secretary’s feet to the flames over American policy at the southern border, sending a letter Wednesday inviting Alejandro Mayorkas to deliver testimony soon after Congress returns following the Labor Day holiday.

The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Mark Green, sent a letter Wednesday to Mr. Mayorkas, inviting him to appear before the committee on October 23 on the subject of President Biden’s border policies.

“The scope of the hearing will primarily focus on border security, with an emphasis on examining the actions and policies implemented since January 2021 and their impacts on the border and throughout the interior of the country,” Mr. Green wrote.

In Mr. Green’s opinion, Mr. Mayorkas’s testimony “will significantly benefit the Committee’s oversight and provide the American public improved transparency and accountability.”

The new letter shows that Mr. Mayorkas has not fallen off of House Republicans’ radar, even though they are on recess and have, in recent months, shifted their attention to pursuing Mr. Biden’s son Hunter and to impeachment efforts against the president himself.

Impeaching Mr. Mayorkas was a priority for Republicans when they assumed the House majority early in 2023. A successful impeachment of the secretary would be the first of a Cabinet member since 1876.

While it’s not yet clear what exactly Mr. Green is hoping to have Mr. Mayorkas testify on specifically, he has recently been vocal about his belief that Mr. Mayorkas is enabling cartels who profit from and prey on the migrants trying to make their way to America.

“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas have provided cartels with more innovative ways to evade our laws, rake in money from human and drug trafficking, and wreak havoc in our country,” Mr. Green said in a statement. 

The “innovative ways” Mr. Green is referencing include the use of virtual private networks, which can allow users to change the apparent locations of electronic devices. 

Mr. Green was referencing a report, first published in the Washington Examiner, saying that cartels are advertising virtual private network services at the border of Mexico in an attempt to bypass location requirements for making an asylum appointment.

Virtual private networks are a publicly and internationally available product that many people use, often as an extra layer of privacy when surfing the internet.

In a response to Mr. Green’s invitation, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, Mia Ehrenberg, said that the agency “will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight.”

In late July, Mr. Green issued an interim report on the alleged “dereliction of duty” by Mr. Mayorkas, which outlines topics that Mr. Green could ask Mr. Mayorkas about in October.

In the report, Mr. Green alleges that Mr. Mayorkas has “ignored, abused, or failed to follow” myriad laws, taken actions to “encourage” mass “illegal immigration,” and “taken actions to spread illegal aliens across the country.”

After the use of the pandemic-era emergency provision Title 42 was ended in May, border crossing dropped dramatically in June, to the lowest point since 2021.

The Washington Post, though, reports that arrests at the border ticked up again in July, with agents apprehending more than 130,000 people at the border, up from 99,545 in June, according to preliminary data shared with the Post. Final statistics for July have not yet been published.