HHS Secy. Called On to Provide Illegals' Housing Records

The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday after his agency failed to provide the panel with information about housing costs for foreign nationals in the United States illegally, according to the New York Post.

Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, demanded that Becerra answer the committee's questions from July about the Office of Refugee Resettlement's (ORR) coordination with multiple federal agencies to provide migrants with housing assistance.

"[S]ince July 2024, we have sought information about ORR's coordination with the State Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Homeland Security to use taxpayer dollars to pay for housing assistance for aliens in the country," Jordan wrote in a letter posted to social platform X.

"The Committee also has sought information about ORR's relationship with Church World Service and the organization's Refugee Housing Solutions, through which aliens can be connected with housing resources."

Multiple requests for information by Judiciary staffers beginning over the summer ultimately yielded just seven pages of documents on Oct. 4 that "included nothing of substance and cannot possibly encompass all relevant documents and communications in HHS's possession or control."

"The failure to provide the requested materials hinders the Committee's ability to fulfill its constitutional oversight obligations," Jordan said in the letter.

He reportedly set a deadline of Oct. 30 to hand over the records.

Since President Joe Biden took office three and a half years ago, migrants from around the world have poured into the U.S., with many being subsidized by taxpayer dollars at the local, state and federal levels.

According to the Post, total spending on migrant services, including housing, food and medical costs, has surpassed $5 billion since the beginning of fiscal year 2023, and several historic hotels like the Roosevelt in Midtown Manhattan have been converted into migrant shelters.

The House Judiciary Committee released a report in July that detailed a number of other federal benefit programs open to migrants seeking housing, food, and health care assistance.

The Post reported that the Immigration and Refugee Program for Church World Service is headed by Erol Kekic, a critic of former President Donald Trump's refugee, asylum, and border policies.

Kekic's group has helped many illegal immigrants travel to sanctuary cities like New York from border states such as Texas during the Biden-Harris administration.

Newsmax has reached out to HHS for comment.