Dear Secretary Nielsen, Secretary Azar, and Mr. Attorney General:
We are writing to request information from your agencies relating to the Administration’s policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on April 6, 2018, and Executive Order 13841, “Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation." Like many Americans, we want to ensure that we can reunite children who have been separated from their families as expeditiously as possible.
In order to promote our shared goal, we request that you produce the following information organized by each individual separated child:
(1) the age, gender, country of origin, and alien identification number, if any, of each child separated from his or her parents under this policy;
(2) all locations and facilities in which the separated child has been, and is currently being, detained, and the dates on which the child was in each facility;
(3) if the separated child is awaiting transfer to a different facility, the name and location of the facility and the date of the planned transfer;
(4) the age, gender, and country of origin, and alien identification number, if any, of the parent or parents of the separated child;
(5) the date and location of the detainment and arrest of the parent or parents of the separated child, or any other individual who accompanied the child;
(6) all locations and facilities in which the parent or parents of the separated child, or any other individual who accompanied the child, have been, and are currently being, detained, and the dates on which the parent or parents were in each facility;
(7) the date and location of the separation of the child from his or her parents, or any other individual who accompanied the child;
(8) the date and location of family reunification, if it has occurred;
(9) whether the parent or parents of the separated child, or any other individual who accompanied the child, presented themselves to U.S. officials for asylum, and if so, the status of the asylum case;
(10) if the parent or parents of the separated child, or any other individual who accompanied the child, were deported, the date, location, and destination of the deportation; and
(11) if the separated child has a sibling in the United States, the detention facility, shelter, foster home, or other facility in which the sibling has been, or is currently being, detained.
Please provide the requested documents and information as soon as possible and schedule a briefing no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 19, 2018. An attachment to this letter provides additional instructions for responding to our request.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
_________________________
Mark Meadows Elijah E. Cummings
Chairman Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Government Operations Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform
