Jordan subpoenas HHS Secretary Becerra for docs on alien children facing charges

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday sent a subpoena to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra for the case files of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) whom his agency released from custody and have seen face charges for crimes committed within the United States.

"The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) mismanagement of the placement of unaccompanied alien children (UACs). This mismanagement has resulted in unvetted UACs, who have been released by HHS to sponsors in the United States, committing heinous criminal acts against Americans," Jordan wrote. "To that end, we have requested the case files for several UACs who have been charged with committing crimes while in the United States after being released by HHS. Your response without compulsory process has been woefully inadequate."

Writing to Becerra, the Ohio Republican recalled his prior exchanges with the Department for said records, which did not yield the materials he sought, asserting that "the Committee attempted to engage with HHS in good faith." He went on to note that his panel had agreed to accommodate a litany of HHS concerns despite not being obligated to do so.

He then tore into the agency for making what he called "pervasive redactions" to the materials it did provide, which he said rendered the documents "useless."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.