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The House of Representatives' Monitoring Committee on Tuesday voted to summon senior officials of the Trump administration regarding family separations on the southern border, marking the first assignments issued by the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
The committee's decision will compel Attorney General William Barr, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Secretary of Health and Social Services Alex Azar to testify and provide documents and records regarding the Administration on the separation of children.
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"These subpoenas will be the first issued by the Committee at the 116th Congress. I did not take this decision lightly, "said the committee chairman, Elijah Cummings, D-Med, in a statement Tuesday. He stated that he was "passionate" about the issue and called it a "genuine national emergency".
"When our own government snatches vulnerable children, toddlers and even infants to the arms of their mothers and fathers without any plan to reunite them, it is a case of mistreatment. sponsored by the government, "he continued. "It's our job to intervene and protect these children. Extra time is not an option. "
Last year, Jeff Sessions, former Attorney General of the Republic, separated more than 2,700 children from their parents at the border under the government's immigration policy, which required that criminal proceedings be granted to anyone who crosses the border illegally.
Cummings said the committee had been looking for records from the administration for months, including details about separated children, where and where they were held, information about their parents, and other information about the children's efforts. administration to reunite children with their parents.
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The representative of the committee, Representative Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued that subpoenas compelling the testimony of the heads of the administration were useless and supported the efforts of the administration to produce the documents necessary in response to previous requests from the committee.
"We do not have to hurry to get departments to provide documents, especially when they want to voluntarily comply with your request," Jordan wrote in a letter to Cummings.
Cummings submitted that the documents and records provided to the Committee in response to previous requests were incomplete.
A Health and Human Services spokesperson said the ministry had "transparently provided 792 pages of documents" regarding the committee's requests and proposed the revision of an information portal.
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If officials oppose their subpoenas, the committee and, possibly, the entire House of Representatives, could despise the department.
Subpoenas are the first issued at the 116th Congress. Earlier this month, the Judiciary Committee of the House authorized the summons of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, though he was not scheduled to appear at the public hearing. The summons to appear has never been served.
Mike Emanuel, Fox News, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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