Just two days in from the summer recess, leaders of the House Oversight and Reform Committee are already engulfed in an ugly, public fight that escalated Tuesday morning when the top Republican deemed the Democratic chairman’s oversight efforts in need of oversight themselves.
Ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio sent a new letter to Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland Tuesday saying the Democrats’ charge that Jordan lied in a previous letter about the details of Democrats’ recent visit to Mexico was in itself a lie.
“No matter how hard you try to spin your conduct, you cannot legitimize your politicized oversight,” Jordan wrote in the letter. “We are concerned that because you have chosen to politicize border security, your oversight will not lead to the real legislative reforms needed to solve the crisis at our southern border. Your entire course of conduct in investigating the Administration’s border security efforts has been in pursuit of facts to fit your preconceived political narrative.”
In an earlier letter sent Monday, Jordan accused Cummings and other committee Democrats of withholding information about two trips by Democratic lawmakers to Mexico in August. He claimed pertinent information was provided neither to the State Department nor to Republican counterparts on the committee ahead of foreign travel.
Jordan asked about the type of “oversight” the lawmakers said they provided while out of the country, a detailed itinerary of the trips, what the lawmakers did to provide congressional oversight, a list of attendees, why the group did not advise the State Department about the trips, and if they plan to visit Mexico again.
He also asked why they traveled with Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas south of her district in El Paso, Texas, down to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after Customs and Border Protection officials said her staff was working in Juarez coaching migrants who had been returned to Mexico to await U.S. asylum decisions.
Cummings wrote Jordan back Monday evening with answers to each accusation. The chairman said his staff notified Jordan “at least five days” before the Juarez trip and invited Republicans. Cummings said he notified the State Department “the day before” and the federal department “raised no concerns” about their travel. He said his staff “put your staff in direct touch” with State.
“Your claim that I have ‘not explained’ why I authorized this trip and your suggestion that the purpose of this trip was to ‘coach’ immigrants on how to exploit immigration law loopholes are also inaccurate,” Cummings wrote. “My staff informed your staff — before the trip — that the purpose was to see firsthand the shelter currently housing immigrants who are being blocked from entering the United States to request asylum under our laws.”
Cummings said the second trip was not an actual trip and that his staff had notified Jordan two weeks ago to let them know the group’s crossing into Mexico was “nothing more than a wrong turn at the very busy international border in Tijuana.”
He also said it was normal for lawmakers to work with other lawmakers who represent districts they are visiting.
Jordan’s response Tuesday stated Cummings was lying about notifying Republicans and giving the State Department “sufficient notice,” among other things.
“You did not clearly explain the purpose of your travel because, at one point in time, we understood that you were attempting to simulate the experience of a migrant arriving at the border,” Jordan wrote.
