(The Center Square) – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is once again calling on Congress to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for failing to secure U.S. borders as the U.S. House continues its proceedings this week in an effort to do so.

The U.S. House Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to hold its second hearing on Thursday targeting Mayorkas.

“Secretary Mayorkas has undoubtedly orchestrated the most destructive and harmful border security policies in the history of the United States,” Moody said. “Every time we believe the numbers cannot possibly get worse, they do,” referring to record illegal entries and apprehensions being reported every month.

Moody first led a multistate coalition calling on Mayorkas to resign in February 2022. She urged Congress to impeach him in April 2023. The Florida AG also has sued Mayorkas multiple times, arguing his policies are unconstitutional and violate the laws established by Congress. She led a multistate coalition calling on Congress to give states the authority to enforce federal immigration law.

“With every court battle we have won, and every fact we have revealed, to say he has been derelict in his duties is an understatement,” Moody said. “I have been calling for him to resign or be removed for nearly two years and with every passing month, this crisis worsens, straining public resources and endangering American citizens. The United States House of Representatives has a duty and responsibility to the American people. Secretary Mayorkas must be impeached.”

In one case, a federal judge last March ruled Mayorkas’ policies were illegal and “the evidence establishes that Defendants [including Secretary Mayorkas] have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand” and that Mayorkas’s “actions were akin to posting a flashing ‘Come In, We’re Open’ sign on the southern border.”

As a result of her office’s legal challenges, former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified under oath in a deposition that Mayorkas’ policies were intentionally reducing detention capacity, leaving agents no choice but to release hundreds of thousands of illegal foreign nationals into the U.S.

Her office also obtained email communications detailing CBP’s plan, as well as information about ICE policies, to release people who illegally entered the U.S. en masse instead of deporting them.

While Florida does not border Mexico by land, Border Patrol agents and the U.S. Coast Guard regularly interdict illegal activity and entry along Florida’s marine border. The Florida Keys are 90 nautical miles from Cuba, a launching pad for foreign nationals to attempt to reach Florida using rustic makeshift boats.

After Mayorkas’ policies were implemented, CBP Miami Sector Border Patrol agents reported a record 500% increase in apprehensions in fiscal year 2022.

One year ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency after several hundred people landed in the Florida Keys on New Year’s Eve. He surged the National Guard and state resources to block illegal entry and assist local and federal law enforcement partners, saying, “When [President] Biden continues to ignore his legal responsibilities, we will step in to support our communities.”

After deploying air assets and expanding state marine patrols to support water interdictions, one year later, illegal entry by sea is nearly nonexistent. Groups of hundreds of people are no longer landing at Dry Tortugas National Park, which caused it to be shut down last year.

After announcing his run for president and his border security platform in Eagle Pass, Texas, last July, DeSantis said he would “stop the invasion once and for all.” He vowed to declare a national emergency on his first day in office as president, finish building the wall, shut down illegal entry, and defeat Mexican cartels. DeSantis finished second to former President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, the opening round of the Republican presidential primary season.

Both Mayorkas and President Joe Biden have argued the border is secure and blame any border failings on the previous administration. Mayorkas has also fought every lawsuit filed by Florida and other states, has told Congress he doesn’t agree with laws it established, and implemented new policies to promote “legal pathways.” His policies enabled people from over 170 countries to illegally enter the U.S., including by using a phone app, which Moody, DeSantis and others argue, is unconstitutional.

More than 10 million foreign nationals were reported to have illegally entered the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2023, including 1.7 million who evaded capture, The Center Square exclusively reported.

The more than 10 million illegal border crossers, the highest recorded in US history in this time period, is greater than the individual populations of 41 states.