On the border: House Committee on the Judiciary: El Paso County Judge testifies before committee

   (CNN) -- Republican lawmakers are expected to slam President Joe Biden's border policies on Wednesday in the first of a series of hearings on the issue since seizing control of the House.

Over the course of Biden's presidency, Republicans have repeatedly criticized the administration over the handling of the US-Mexico border, where an influx of migrants has stretched federal resources. Critics argue the historic number of arrests is evidence of Biden's policies not working despite the administration largely using the same protocols as the Trump administration, principally a Covid-era border restriction.

Now, with a House majority and leadership on key committees, Republicans plan to raise those criticisms in congressional hearings and seize on an issue that's been a political vulnerability for the president, beginning with a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The committee described Wednesday's hearing as an examination of "border security, national security, and how fentanyl has impacted American lives," but it also serves as a platform for GOP lawmakers to air their grievances over the administration's immigration policies. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs the committee, is a fierce critic of those policies, calling the situation along the US-Mexico border a "crisis."

The witnesses who will testify before the committee on Wednesday include Brandon Dunn, co-founder of Forever 15 Project, which seeks to raise awareness on fentanyl, County Judge Dale Lynn Carruthers of Terrell County, Texas, and Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Arizona.

The hearing is being billed as the first in a series. CNN previously reported House Republicans are planning to use their new majority to build a public case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which could serve as a prelude to impeachment.

The House Judiciary Committee is one of many committees that will be holding hearings over the situation at the US-Mexico border. The House Oversight Committee also intends to hold a hearing on the issue and has already engaged in a back and forth with the department over its witnesses.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, accused DHS of "refusing to permit" four chief patrol agents to testify at an upcoming Oversight hearing that Comer invited them to the week of February 6.

DHS, however, offered US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz, who oversees the four agents Comer requested, to testify before the House Oversight Committee and said it would make sector chiefs available for a member-level briefing, according to a letter from DHS to Comer obtained by CNN, citing its own assessment of who was appropriate to testify.

The Biden administration faces unprecedented movement across the Western hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants at the border, including more people from different countries, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is largely barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a unique set of challenges for DHS.

In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Cubans to provide a legal pathway for them to enter the US instead of crossing the border. The administration also made those nationalities eligible for Title 42, meaning they can now be turned away by authorities if they don't apply for the program.

Since then, there has been a significant decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which attributed the drop to new border measures.

Encounters with migrants from those four nationalities declined 97% in January compared to December, officials previously told reporters, citing preliminary numbers. Border numbers often fluctuate depending on circumstances in the Western hemisphere, so it's unclear how long the trend will hold.

Already, though, Republican-led states have sued the administration over the program. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with 19 other states, argued in a lawsuit that the administration didn't go through the notice and comment rulemaking process before instituting the rule. As a result, the states are asking the court to block the program.

Administration officials immediately pushed back.

"It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and cause more irregular migration at our southern border," Mayorkas said in a statement.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.