SEATTLE - In the latest back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats before president-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as the U.S.'s 47th President in Jan. 20, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a series of letters on Nov. 22 to Joe Biden's Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in which he signaled his intention to investigate the current administration's handling of the border.
In its X social media account, the House Judiciary Committee for the Republican Party shared a warning for both Garland and Mayorkas that read "Preserve your records. Accountability is coming."
🚨Chairman @Jim_Jordan to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary Mayorkas: PRESERVE YOUR RECORDS.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) November 22, 2024
Accountability is coming.
The message was followed up by both letters Jordan sent to Garland and Mayorkas, similar to what he did just days after the 2024 presidential election, in which he asked Special Counsel Jack Smith to retain all records related to his two investigations into Trump.
In his latest letters, Jordan reworked two years of requests made at each agency, highlighting different investigative threads pursued by the panel, from how immigration court judges overseen by the Department of Justice handle cases, to data requests on several immigration policies carried out by the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration.
"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 each.
As mentioned before, this is not the first time Jordan has demanded answers from government agencies. In the past, he has launched numerous investigations into the Biden administration officials as well as other two prosecutors beyond Smith who targeted Trump with their own investigations.
But as The Hill reports, the GOP's track record has yielded mixed results. A previous investigation into Mayorkas that spurred an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives was dismissed by the Senate in January, as it declined to hold a trial on the topic of federal immigration laws.
According to the outlet, the latest letters sent by Jordan are a sign about what the House Judiciary Committee will focus on once Trump returns to the White House, similar to the oversight of the Biden administration that the GOP has done since regaining the control of the lower chamber of Congress.
In response, the DOJ pushed back on any insinuation it does not plan to keep all records.
"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 told The Hill.
As of Nov. 22, DHS has not responded to Jordan's letter nor to a request for comment.
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