Home Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) fired off letters to Lawyer Common Merrick Garland and Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Friday, signaling his intention to proceed investigations into the Biden administration’s dealing with of the border.
“This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to the Biden-Harris Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law,” Jordan wrote in letters to every.
The Justice Division pushed again on any insinuation it doesn’t plan to maintain all information.
“This Justice Department follows the law, including our legal obligations regarding the preservation of records, and we will continue to do so,” a DOJ spokesperson advised The Hill.
DHS didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.
The letters rehash two years of requests made at every company, highlighting totally different investigative threads pursued by the panel, from how immigration courtroom judges overseen by DOJ deal with circumstances to particulars and information requested on quite a few immigration insurance policies carried out by the Division of Homeland Safety.
The letters are simply the most recent signal from Jordan about what the committee will give attention to as soon as President-elect Trump re-enters the White Home, persevering with oversight of the Biden administration because it has because the GOP overtook the Home below President Biden.
Simply days after the election, Jordan additionally despatched a letter to particular counsel Jack Smith likewise asking him to retain all information associated to his two investigations into Trump.
Jordan has launched quite a few investigations into Biden administration officers in addition to the opposite two prosecutors past Smith who launched investigations into Trump.
However the GOP monitor report is combined. A prolonged investigation into Mayorkas that spurred an impeachment vote within the Home was dismissed by the Senate as they declined to carry a trial on the subject.
And the Home by no means superior for a vote its personal impeachment investigation into Biden, releasing a report forward of the Democratic conference that relied on quite a few debunked claims whereas failing to show he took improper actions as a authorities official.
Nonetheless, a border investigation offers Republicans an avenue for persevering with to assault Democrats on the border – a chief marketing campaign subject for Trump all through the election.
Trump critics additionally worry that congressional investigations will likely be a route to hold out revenge on those that have crossed methods with Trump.