WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim JordanR-Ohio called the Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra On Tuesday, he called on Becerra to submit the unaccompanied cases child migrants Those charged with crimes in the United States after being released by HHS.
Into letter Jordan, who briefed Becerra on the subpoena, detailed his committee’s previous requests for case files, arguing that the administration’s response was “woefully inadequate.”
The committee sought the documents as part of an oversight of the “placement of unaccompanied alien children,” which Jordan said has resulted in some children committing “heinous criminal acts against Americans.”
Jordan repeatedly referred to his earlier letters to Becerra. Reference is made to Jordan’s November letter the media reports On allegations of murder and assault, the committee requested case files for the alleged perpetrators.
Jordan said in a February letter that HHS had previously “cited concerns about the privacy interests of criminal aliens and argued that the Committee lacked a legitimate surveillance purpose to obtain case files.”
Jordan said his committee agreed to privately review the HHS documents “as an accommodation,” but also argued that the documents provided by HHS contained “pervasive redactions.”
In a statement, an HHS spokesman withdrew Jordan’s subpoena, arguing that House Republicans “offered a false pretext for the subpoena while still refusing to take action on immigration reform and border security.”
“While we understand that House Judiciary Republicans want to spin a story, the facts remain clear: HHS already voluntarily shared the documents in question with the Committee weeks ago,” the spokesperson said. “The only information sought by the committee is personally identifiable information, medical records and protected information related to children’s health.”
The spokesperson added that it was “unclear” what purpose “such personalized data” would serve.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
Jordan, a staunch critic of Becerra and the Biden administration, also served the HHS secretary with a subpoena. in january.