On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) once again subpoenaed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, this time demanding records pertaining to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The subpoena is at least the third one Jordan has sent to Mayorkas in recent months, following one in December regarding documents on “violent” illegal immigrants and another in February over border security issues in Texas.
Jordan has also sought information on the illegal immigrant charged with murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
#BREAKING: Chairman @Jim_Jordan subpoenas DHS Secretary Mayorkas for @ICEgov data, documents, and communications.
America faces a migrant crisis at the southern border and DHS failed to fully comply with the Committee's requests for over four months.
Unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/maMf5LHr8q
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 13, 2024
“As a part of its oversight efforts, we conducted transcribed interviews with several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. During these transcribed interviews, the ICE witnesses were unable to answer certain questions about data, documents, and communications related to the Biden Administration’s immigration policies,” Jordan wrote in his latest subpoena cover letter to Mayorkas.
“On November 2, 2023, the Committee requested that the Department provide the information that the ICE witnesses could not provide during their transcribed interviews. To date, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to fully comply with our requests,” he added.
Jordan said committee staff tried on a number of occasions to inquire about the status of the requested information in the months after DHS missed the deadline. Across two occasions, the agency’s staff responded with first “only a partial answer” and later produced links to some public data and information that did not meet the panel’s demands, the chairman added.
“Although we appreciate that DHS has provided some limited data, your failure to produce all the requested documents and information prevents the Committee from fulfilling its constitutional oversight obligations,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan said that his committee has jurisdiction over matters concerning federal immigration law and suggested the information it seeks may influence legislative forms that could include, “reforming Alternatives to Detention, increasing penalties on aliens who abscond from ICE, and enhancing ICE’s tracking, detention, and communications standards for aliens on the terrorist watchlist.”
The Daily Wire reached out to DHS seeking comment on the newest subpoena. In reply, a DHS official said the agency has facilitated 10 transcribed interviews with ICE personnel for the committee, provided “extensive” data and information in response to follow-up requests, and answered two-thirds of the 24 “get backs” from the panel with others in progress.
“Instead of working cooperatively, as DHS has repeatedly sought to do, the House Judiciary Committee continues to waste time with unnecessary subpoenas that serve no purpose beyond political posturing,” said DHS press secretary Mia Ehrenberg. “In this Administration, DHS has produced thousands of pages of documents, provided countless briefings, and sent dozens of witnesses to appear for hearings. On this request alone, DHS already provided the vast majority of the information requested by the committee and made clear that our efforts remain ongoing.”
Ehrenberg added, “DHS will continue cooperating with Congressional oversight requests, all while faithfully working to protect our nation from terrorism and targeted violence, secure our borders, respond to natural disasters, defend against cyberattacks, and more.”
House Republicans voted in February to impeach Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis. A month later, a Senate trial has yet to happen.