House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green said Thursday afternoon that lawmakers will convene in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 18, to pour over the illegal immigration crisis that has rocked the southern border, the impact to public safety and crime across the United States, as well as how federal police have fared working during the Democratic White House.

“Next week’s hearing will confront the American people with the inescapable truth: our once secure border has been thrown wide open by Biden and Harris,” Green said in a Thursday afternoon statement. “This is the defining issue of our time.”

Since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office in January 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recorded more than 10 million migrants encountered nationwide — a figure greater than the number recorded in any single or double White House administration.

Republicans have accused the Biden-Harris administration of trying to clamp down on illegal border crossings from Mexico by rolling out walk-around programs that allow migrants to apply from abroad for admission.

GOP lawmakers say the executive branch’s increased reliance on parole programs goes beyond its authority and that Congress maintains sole authority in setting immigration levels.

“From day one, President Joe Biden and his ‘border czar’ Vice President Kamala Harris set about dismantling what was a secure border. They ended decades of bipartisan enforcement of America’s longstanding immigration laws,” Green said. “Border Patrol agents were forced to implement a policy of mass catch-and-release, while ICE’s interior enforcement capabilities were gutted—all in pursuit of Biden and Harris’ dream of open borders.”

Lawmakers on the GOP-controlled committee will meet next Wednesday at 10 a.m. on Capitol Hill to hear from a variety of witnesses expected to include CBP personnel.

The committee hearing will come days after the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the border crisis and crimes committed by immigrants who illegally entered the country and victimized U.S. citizens.

Republicans refused to respond when asked last week if the hearings were political in that they are coming less than two months ahead of the presidential election.