The Democrat controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday took a step toward issuing subpoenas against the Trump administration for documents related to family separations at the border.
The committee voted 25-11 in support of a resolution authorizing subpoenas to Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security that direct those departments to produce lists of all children and parents who were separated from April 6, 2018, through June 20, 2018. Two Republicans, Chip Roy of Texas and Justin Amash of Michigan, voted with Democrats in favor of the resolution.
Family separations occurred at the border after the Justice Department implemented its “zero tolerance” policy in April 2018.
The resolution‘s passage gives the committee the authority to issue the subpoenas, which Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said are needed because the Trump administration has failed to give him the information he wants. Cummings said he has pushed for seven months for information about detained children, but with no luck.
“I did not make this decision lightly,” Cummings said during the business meeting. “This is a national emergency, and time is of the essence. President Trump’s policy of separating immigrant kids from their parents is a stain on our country, and it is doing daily damage to these children.”
Court documents filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last week indicated 97 percent of the more than 2,800 children who were separated during zero tolerance and ordered by a judge to be reunited, had been as of Feb. 13.
Ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, rejected Cummings’ arguments by saying HHS has provided 800 pages of documents and DHS produced 2,700 pages of documents late Monday. He told Republicans to vote against the resolution because the administration has attempted to follow through on Cummings requests.
HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said the department has a long history of working with lawmakers, including its recent handing over hundreds of pages of documents related to Cummings request.
“HHS understands and appreciates the important role of Congressional Oversight and has communicated regularly and in good faith with members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Additionally, we have transparently provided 792 pages of documents related to the Committee’s request and offered their staff a review of the Office of Refugee Resettlement portal at the Department,” Oakley said in a statement.
Subpoenas authorized by the vote would allow the committee to demand the age, gender, country of origin, and identification number of the guardian and minor from federal agencies. They can also ask for each person’s transfer history, whether he or she is in asylum proceedings, and if the parent was since deported.
Cummings and the former Subcommittee on Government Operations Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., submitted a joint letter to DOJ, HHS, and DHS officials on July 5, 2018, asking for documents outlining the extent of the separations.
After receiving no response, Cummings sent a follow-up letter Aug. 2. He asked former Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to subpoena the administration but he refused. Cummings then sent additional letters on the same matter on Sept. 17 and Sept. 25.
[Previous coverage: Top Democrat gets emotional about child separation at IG report hearing]
After Democrats took back the House last November, Cummings wrote the three departments on Dec. 19 and said he planned to push harder on this issue when he took over the committee in January. He gave the Trump administration until Jan. 11 to produce documents but received “no substantive responses,” he said Tuesday.
A Feb. 8 hearing was postponed due to the administration’s request for additional time to prepare. Cummings said the delays and months of no answers forced him to move on the subpoena.
Jordan called Cummings move “rash” and “hasty.” He also warned it might have “negative” consequences for the committee because it could “disincentive” other parties in the future from voluntarily handing over information because they might choose to wait for a subpoena.
