On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra for data and information about HHS policies relating to the placement unaccompanied alien children (UAC) with sponsors, sponsor vetting, and criminal- and gang-affiliated UACs.
The Committee continues to conduct oversight of the Biden Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law. This oversight includes the examination of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is charged with the care and placement of UACs encountered at the United States border. To that end, since June 2023 the Committee has asked HHS for data and information about HHS policies relating to UAC placement, sponsor vetting, and criminal- and gang-affiliated UACs. The response, to date, has been woefully inadequate.
For more than six months, the Committee has asked for Secretary Becerra’s cooperation with a series of requests arising from the Committee’s transcribed interview of ORR Director Robin Dunn Marcos. During the interview, Ms. Dunn Marcos was unable to answer many of the Committee’s questions, such as whether ORR has a policy to refer known gang members to the Department of Justice. Ms. Dunn Marcos also did not have the data the Committee requested, including, for example, 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. Instead, the HHS attorneys at the interview represented that the Department would provide the Committee with the requested information at a later date. In the months since the June 8 interview, the Committee has repeatedly inquired about the status of this requested information.
The Supreme Court has recognized that Congress has a “broad and indispensable” power to conduct oversight, which “encompasses inquiries into the administration of existing laws, studies of proposed laws, and surveys in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling Congress to remedy them.” Pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee has jurisdiction to conduct oversight of matters concerning federal immigration law to inform potential legislative reforms. These potential legislative reforms could include, among other proposals, 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.
Read the full subpoena cover letter to Secretary Becerra here.
