House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is continuing to hold members of the Biden administration accountable for the crisis at the southern border, this time when it comes to Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra. On Tuesday, the chairman subpoenaed Becerra, noting in his letter he was looking into the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and its handling of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) at the border.
"To that end, since June 2023 we have asked HHS for data and information about HHS policies relating to UAC placement, sponsor vetting, and criminal-and gang-affiliated UACs," Jordan's letter pointed out. "The response, to date, has been woefully inadequate," the chairman added, something which has been a pattern with this administration.
The letter points to requests to do with a transcribed interview from June 8, with ORR Director Robin Dunn Marcos, although that interview was severely lacking. This includes her inability to answer "whether ORR has a policy to refer known gang members to the Department of Justice" and a lack of data that the Committee had requested, such as "the total number of UACs that ORR has placed in the custody of a known sex offender or the total number of sponsor applications rejected based on the potential sponsor being a convicted murderer." HHS attorneys said they would provide the requested information at a later date, with Jordan reminding that the Committee has followed up for such information, including with letters from July 18 and November 13.
What followed is that indeed "woefully inadequate" response which appeared to go from bad to worse. In a September 29 letter, HHS provided only "a series of generalized statements that partially touched on a small fraction of the Committee’s requests," according to Jordan. In response to the November 13 letter, which came on November 27, HHS "produced nothing of substance," and didn't even acknowledge the requests made from the Committee.
"Your failure to provide the requested materials hinders the Committee’s ability to fulfill its constitutional oversight obligations," Jordan writes in calling out Becerra.
The letter not only reminds Becerra of Congress' authority, but also notes that the Committee may very well be considering legislative reforms, with some examples including "enhancing the level of scrutiny applied in vetting UACs and potential
sponsors and requiring minimum standards relating to the referral of known gang members."
"To inform such potential reforms, the Committee must first understand the Administration’s current application of federal immigration law," the letter points out.
Today, we subpoenaed HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra for information about the placement of unaccompanied alien children with convicted murders and other criminals. pic.twitter.com/fLKnbAwAgj
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 23, 2024
The Tuesday subpoena comes after Jordan on Monday also sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The letter, co-written by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), refers to the over 7 million illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border for 35 consecutive months, which includes the record-high of 302,000 for last December.
The letter gets further into specifics, in pointing out that "the Biden Administration has released more than 3.3 million illegal aliens into the United States."
"According to press reports, on January 8, 'when meeting privately with [Border Patrol] agents in Eagle Pass, Texas,' you acknowledged that currently more than 85 percent of illegal aliens encountered at the southwest border are being
released into the interior of the country," the letter noted about Mayorkas, citing a Fox News report. "Such an astronomical release rate shows a flagrant disrespect for the rule of law and for those Americans and legal immigrants who abide by the
law," Jordan and McClintock continued.
Jordan and McClintock are thus seeking information by February 5 about those released, which includes "data relating to and supporting" the point about the 85 percent; "documents and communications between or among Department of Homeland Security or its components for the period January 20, 2021, to the present referring or relating to the above-referenced over-85 percent release rate for illegal aliens;" and a "numerical breakdown of all illegal alien releases at the southwest border since January 20, 2021, by release category, including the statutory basis for the release."
Also included in the letter were strong against the Biden administration's mishandling of the crisis. "The incentives created by the Biden Administration’s radical open-border policies continue to drive illegal immigration into the United States. Illegal aliens continue to cross our southwest border because they know that more likely than not, the Biden Administration will release them into the U.S. To make matters worse, the illegal aliens know that they will then be given a plane or bus ticket—at U.S. taxpayer expense—to whatever U.S. destination they desire," the lawmakers highlighted.
Jordan had subpoenaed Mayorkas last month as well. The DHS secretary is also facing impeachment in the House for his failure to properly deal with the crisis at the southern border.
Read the full letter here: https://t.co/rjb4baYvqI
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) January 22, 2024
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