Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling upon U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to preserve their records. 

The Hill reports that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) made the request in letters that he sent to Garland and Mayorakas on Friday.

It would appear that Jordan and his committee are planning to launch an investigation into the Biden administration's handling of the U.S. border crisis.

A spokesman for the administration has responded to Jordan's request.

"A form request to preserve..."

The letters can be read, in their entirety, here.

"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, in part, wrote.

He continued:

You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information ... that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry.

Elsewhere, Jordan states that the reason he is writing the letter is that he is "concerned that DHS may attempt to purge relevant records, communications, and documents responsive to our numerous requests for information."

The letter is an attempt to prevent this.

The Biden administration responds

The Hill reports that the Biden administration, specifically, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has provided them with a statement on the matter.

In the statement, Biden administration officials attempt to push back on the notion that they might, as Jordan put it, "purge relevant records, communications, and documents." The administration attempted to make it appear as though Jordan is out of line here.

"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.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is under the leadership of Mayorkas, has not released a statement in response to the Jordan's letter. This comes not long after Mayorka decided not to show up to the annual Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, breaking a 15-year tradition. The claim was that Mayorkas stayed home because he already testified many times before Congress on the issue.

This is all part of a larger effort by Republican leaders in Congress to hold the Biden administration to account. The effort is expected to continue in the coming months, when President-Elect Donald Trump enters the White House.