Chairman Jordan Subpoenas HHS Secretary Becerra for Information on Criminal- and Gang-Affiliated UACs, Placement of UACs

Letter

Dear Secretary Becerra:
The Committee on the Judiciary 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 (HHS), which is charged with the care and placement of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) encountered at the border.1 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.The response, to date, has been woefully inadequate.

For more than six months, the Committee has asked for your 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.

On September 29, the Department provided a response to the Committee’s long-outstanding requests. However, instead of providing the promised information responsive to the Committee’s concerns, the Department’s response contained 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. However, you have produced nothing of substance, refusing to even acknowledge these requests in your November 27 response to the Committee.
Your failure to provide the requested materials hinders the Committee’s ability to fulfill its
constitutional oversight obligations.

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.

Accordingly, given HHS’s inadequate voluntary compliance, please find attached a
subpoena for the Committee’s requested documents and information

Source