House Republicans are set to take a vote Tuesday that would bring Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas one step closer to a historic impeachment over his handling of the southern border.

       The GOP-led House Homeland Security Committee is set to discuss and ultimately vote on the impeachment articles against Mayorkas in a hearing on Capitol Hill after Republicans said the secretary has failed to enforce the law at the southern border allowing a flood of migrants in.

       It is likely to pass in committee and move on to the House floor for a vote despite Democrats saying there's no proof of high crimes and misdemeanors -- the usual bar for impeachment. If the vote to impeach passes in the House, it forces a Senate trial.

       MORE: House Republicans release impeachment articles against Mayorkas amid push to remove him over the border

       If Mayorkas were to be impeached, it would be first of a Cabinet member in nearly 150 years. Only one Cabinet secretary has ever been impeached by the House: William Belknap, who resigned as then-President Ulysses Grant's secretary of war shortly before the House voted against him in 1876.

       Chairman Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican, opened the hearing saying Mayorkas "put his political preference above the law" and that his "actions have forced our hand" because "we cannot allow this border crisis to continue. We cannot allow fentanyl to flood our border."

       He referenced the two articles of impeachment the conference released accusing Mayorkas of "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" and "breach of public trust."

       Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., center, speaks as Republicans on the Homeland Security Co...Show more ---Show more

       J. Scott Applewhite/AP

       Green called on the committee to push to use Congress' power of impeachment to "remove those unworthy from office."

       "Secretary Mayorkas is the very type of public official the framers feared as someone who would cast aside the laws by a coequal branch of government, replacing those with his own preferences, hurting his fellow Americans in the process," Green said.

       Ranking Member Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said "Republicans have failed to make a constitutionally viable case to impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a dedicated public servant." He called the hearing a "terrible day" for the committee.

       "The sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is a baseless political stunt by extreme MAGA Republicans," Thompson said.

       MORE: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls impeachment against him 'baseless'

       Mayorkas called the impeachment proceedings against him "baseless" and the accusations made against him by the Homeland Security Committee "false" in a nearly seven-page letter to the committee.

       Democrats have pushed back against the effort to impeach Mayorkas -- with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries slamming the effort.

       Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, speaks during a...Show more ---Show more

       Kaylee Greenlee Beal/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

       "Republicans have clearly turned their ever-shrinking majority over to the extremists," Jeffries said Monday. "And this sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is just another sad example."

       "All they are endeavoring to do with respect to this sham impeachment is to run away from their do-nothing, extreme record, and try to distract the American people with this political stunt," Jeffries said.

       Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee put out a report Monday that contends that House Republicans are abusing their power with the move to impeach. Democrats argue that Mayorkas is upholding the law while Republicans attempt to "sabotage" the administration's efforts to secure the border -- all to help former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, win the presidency this fall.

       MORE: Immigration emerges as key 2024 election wedge issue for Trump, vulnerability for Biden

       Border security is a top issue in the 2024 elections with all eyes on how the Biden administration handles the surge of migrants crossing the border.

       Senate negotiators are working -- with Mayorkas' help -- on a bipartisan border security package with a deal in sight. However several in the GOP are threatening to derail the efforts. Trump is throwing cold water on the package, saying Monday that "a border bill is not necessary;" House Speaker Mike Johnson has said the bill appears "dead on arrival" in the House.

       ABC News Quinn Owen, John Parkinson and Luke Barr contributed to this report.