House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says his panel plans to hold Vice President Kamala Harris “accountable” by investigating her role in the influx of migrants across the southwest border and the associated costs to taxpayers.

In an interview Sunday night with Fox News’ Trey Gowdy, Comer, R-Ky., repeatedly accused Harris of sending an “open invitation” to migrants to enter the United States.

Since taking over the committee in January 2023, Comer has been one of the key figures in the Republican-led House investigating President Joe Biden, but GOP lawmakers have produced no solid evidence the president profited from his son’s or his brother’s business deals or that their professional interests influenced Biden’s actions in office.

The criticism of Harris on Sunday night repeated a misleading line of attack by Republicans, renewed after the vice president entered the presidential race last month, that Biden appointed her “border czar,” placing her in charge of border security.

In March 2021, Biden assigned Harris with leading the administration’s efforts to address the root causes of what propels people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to attempt to migrate to the U.S. Border security is the responsibility of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom House Republicans impeached in April over border policies. The Democratic-led Senate dismissed the charges.

The White House has never used the term “border czar” to describe Harris’ role.

Gowdy, himself a former House Oversight chairman, opened the interview with a video clip he claimed proved Biden put Harris in charge of the border. In the clip, Biden said he asked Harris “to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help.” All of Biden’s subsequent comments — which were not shown in the clip on Fox News — made clear he had only assigned Harris with addressing the underlying causes of migration through diplomacy.

“That's the only thing that I can remember that President Biden ever put her in charge of during the whole first term of the Biden-Harris administration,” Comer said. “So she failed miserably at the border. If she was in charge of trying to subdue border crossings from certain countries, there's no evidence that she did anything other than invite more people to come across the border.”

During a June 2021 trip to Central America, Harris told Guatemalans who might be considering making the trek to the U.S., “Do not come.”

"The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our border,” she said then.

Comer said his committee will investigate “exactly what Kamala Harris did” in regards to border security. He said the panel also will look into the financial costs of migration, including on Medicaid, cities and public schools.

The White House did not respond to an email seeking comment from Spectrum News on Monday. 

In an interview with Spectrum News, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., a member of the Oversight Committee, called Comer's plans "a new low in the weaponization of Congress to serve as a campaign apparatus for Donald Trump."

"It is an improper use of congressional authority to use it for such nakedly partisan purposes to support a candidate for office," Goldman said. "And it's no surprise that Chairman Comer grossly misrepresents what Vice President Harris's role was because he spent a year and a half misrepresenting President Biden's involvement in his son's business dealings."

Comer is not the only House Republican to target Harris over the border since she replaced Biden in the race for the White House. Three days after Harris announced her candidacy, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced articles of impeachment centered in part on “the ongoing border crisis, tragically extenuated by the inaction of border czar Kamala Devi Harris.”