House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for information relating to “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC).
Jordan asked HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra for information about the “care and custody of unaccompanied migrant children encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border who have suspected gang ties or are sponsored by U.S. residents who have criminal convictions,” according to a report from Reuters.
The subpoena calls for HHS to provide information relating to the “total number of UACs that [Office of Refugee Resettlement] 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.”
Jordan has asked for information on the matter for “more than six months,” according to the subpoena.
When HHS did issue a response, it was “woefully inadequate,” Jordan wrote.
In HHS’s response to the Committee in September, the department offered a “series of generalized statements that partially touched on a small fraction of the Committee’s requests.”
“On November 13, the Committee wrote to you once again seeking your voluntary cooperation with our oversight and reiterating these outstanding requests,” the subpoena adds. “However, you have produced nothing of substance, refusing to even acknowledge these requests in your November 27 response to the Committee.”
Reuters said that an HHS person declared the subpoena was “entirely without basis.”
“Unfortunately, these actions by the committee fail to solve the important and urgent issue of ensuring a safe and humane immigration system. HHS will continue to operate in good faith,” the spokesperson said.
