House Democrats on Tuesday summoned a pair of top Homeland Security officials to testify on Capitol Hill amid a political firestorm over recent migrant deaths and overcrowded conditions at the border.
The House Oversight Committee is demanding the acting head of DHS, Kevin McAleenan, who has been at the forefront of the administration's much-criticized response to the recent surge of migrants at the border, appear before the panel. Democrats also summoned Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Patrol, which has been consumed this week with its own political crisis — a secret Facebook group that showed current and former agents mocking dead migrants and posting racist and sexist images of Democratic lawmakers.
Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings said on Tuesday that he plans to fully investigate the matter, and sent a letter to Facebook officials requesting all posts and comments — as well as deleted content — from the three-year-old Facebook group.
Democrats first issued invitations to McAleenan and Morgan last week, according to the committee. But it's not clear that either will respond willingly, as neither have confirmed their attendance.
The committee has given both officials until Wednesday to respond to their request for testimony. Though Cummings has not threatened to subpoena them if they refuse to confirm their attendance, he has shown that he's willing to attempt to compel testimony if witnesses snub his panel. Last week, Cummings subpoenaed Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway for refusing to appear at a hearing about her alleged violations of the Hatch Act.
Democrats announced the hearing, which is scheduled for July 12, at the same time they released a damning inspector general's report that found "dangerous overcrowding" and "prolonged detention of children."
Among the findings is a disturbing photo that shows mothers and young children packed into tight rooms in a Rio Grande Valley detention center, where they appeared to sleep on concrete floors.
Cummings described Trump administration's response at the border as "open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency."
"The Trump Administration's actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing," the Maryland Democrat wrote in a release announcing the hearing. "The Committee needs to hear directly from the heads of these agencies as soon as possible in light of the almost daily reports of abuse and defiance."
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus reacted with fury to the inspector generals' findings on Tuesday, describing the 16-page report as full of "egregious violations" of human rights, such as denying migrants' access to showers and hot meals.
The report also found that 165 children had been in custody of the border patrol agency longer than a week — far above the 72-hour court mandated limit.
House Democratic leaders have sought an aggressive response to the border crisis, seeking new conditions to strengthen oversight of the Trump administration.
But an emergency aid package signed into law this week largely ignored those requests, which were demanded by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and progressive leaders. Instead, the White House agreed to certain administrative changes that would, for example, require officials to notify Congress when a child has died in custody.
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