U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas asking him to release communications about the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations in regard to immigration policy.
The representatives said they requested the information after a recent report from National Public Radio showed that staff at the Department of Homeland Security had warned President Biden’s transition team against reversing Trump-era immigration policies.
“DHS officials reportedly had ‘multiple briefings’ with Biden transition officials, warning them that undoing President Trump’s policies would lead to an increase in illegal immigration. Instead of heeding these warnings, President Biden signed several executive orders dismantling the Trump Administration’s immigration programs and policies,” the pair wrote in the letter. “The reversal of President Trump’s successful immigration policies have created a tremendous incentive for illegal aliens to surge to the southern border. President Biden and his Administration are responsible for the resulting crisis at the border.”
The southern border has seen a recent surge of immigrants, causing capacity issues in detention facilities.
🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan and @RepMcClintock demand documents and communications related to DHS warning to the Biden Transition that reversing President Trump’s immigration policies would lead to a surge at the border. pic.twitter.com/qxr0R6wkiv
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 30, 2021
The NPR report cited former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who said that the Trump administration had warned Biden’s transition team against changing policies.
“There is no consequence anymore,” Wolf told NPR. “The administration is treating this as though it’s a capacity issue and not an illegal behavior issue, and that’s a fundamental difference.”
Jordan and McClintock have asked Mayorkas to release “all documents and communications” between the DHS and the Biden transition team referring to meetings between the two about immigration policy, as well as related documents such as charts, graphs, presentations and notes. The pair are seeking the documents created between October 1 and the present and have asked for the request to be filled by April 13.
“This refusal to accept responsibility is startling in light of a news report that suggests the Biden Administration was warned that reversing President Trump’s successful immigration policies would lead to a surge at the border,” they wrote.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with The Ohio Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair.
