A spokesperson for HHS Secretary Alex Azar said HHS has been forthcoming with information requests from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Immigration Trump's health secretary refuses Democrats' request to testify on separated kids

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declined a request to testify on the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant families at the border, angering House Democrats who accused the administration of stonewalling their investigation into the controversial practice.

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who announced earlier this month plans to hold a hearing on the administration's separation policy, had asked Azar to testify, a committee spokesperson told POLITICO. Azar's office declined the request Tuesday afternoon, the spokesperson said.


"It has been eight months since this cruel policy came to light, and Secretary Azar has yet to appear before Congress at a hearing specifically on this policy," Pallone said in a statement, calling Azar's refusal unacceptable.

Azar's rejection comes as House Democrats flex new investigatory powers to probe the Trump administration's border policy, which resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents. HHS officials said the policy — designed by the White House and other agencies — was haphazardly introduced and administered, as they have defended their care for the children. Public health groups condemned the separations, warning they likely caused trauma to children.

A spokesperson for Azar, whose department oversees care for migrant children, said HHS has been forthcoming with information requests from the committee and Democrats. HHS did not immediately say whether it would send someone else to the upcoming hearing by the Energy and Commerce's Oversight Subcommittee.

"HHS has participated in numerous briefings with congressional staff to provide updates," the spokesperson said, adding the department holds weekly calls with the Hill and has arranged more than 100 congressional visits to the facilities caring for the children.

An HHS official said the department offered other Trump appointees to testify, including the top two officials involved in providing care to the children: Lynn Johnson, the assistant secretary overseeing the children and families program, and Jonathan Hayes, who leads the refugee office. The committee rejected those offers. Both Johnson and Hayes joined the health department after President Donald Trump announced an end to the family separations policy in June 2018 amid public outcry.

Pallone believes that Azar is “the appropriate person to testify,” a committee spokesperson said. The hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Azar reluctantly became the Trump administration's face of the migrant crisis last summer as concern over family separations mounted and HHS led efforts to reunify more than 2,500 families. The "zero tolerance" policy of separating migrant families at the border was driven by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, although HHS played a key role by taking custody of the separated children.

The health department's inspector general last week concluded the Trump administration likely separated "thousands" more children at the border than previously known and that separations had begun months earlier than the administration had acknowledged. The administration ended the policy last June.

The House Judiciary Committee has also said it will hold hearings on family separations. Pallone on Tuesday said Azar will face questions about his role in the policy.

"We are going to get him here at some point one way or another," he added.