By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday issued a subpoena that orders President Joe Biden’s health secretary to provide records related to the handling of unaccompanied migrant children with suspected criminal ties.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan sent the subpoena to Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to a copy reviewed by Reuters.
Jordan asked Becerra to provide 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.
Republicans blame the Biden administration for record numbers of migrants who are caught trying to cross the border illegally, saying the Democratic president should not have reversed restrictive policies of Republican former President Donald Trump.
Biden officials counter that migration is a hemispheric challenge and say they have sought to create a more orderly and humane system.
Biden is seeking a second term in the Nov. 5 presidential election and Trump is the leading candidate for his party’s nomination.
Congress remains divided on immigration policy despite an ongoing effort in the Senate to strike a deal that would pair U.S. border security reforms with military aid for Ukraine’s war against Russia.
In the subpoena to Becerra, Jordan said that the committee had requested information related to unaccompanied migrant children since June 2023 but that the response had been “woefully inadequate.”
The subpoena demands that HHS disclose whether it refers unaccompanied children with suspected gang ties to the U.S. Department of Justice and calls for the number of “serious incident reports” filed at HHS-funded shelters in cases involving sexual assault, violence, drug use or gang activity.
The subpoena also requests the number of approved or denied U.S. sponsor applications by people with convictions for child abuse, child pornography, domestic abuse and murder.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Of the more than 6 million migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border during Biden’s presidency, 7% were of unaccompanied children.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Lisa Shumaker)
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