U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined 43 other Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House in sending a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris demanding that their administration’s program that resettles unaccompanied alien children into the U.S. be reformed to ensure the safety of children within the program.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) program transfers unaccompanied alien children who crossed the border into the U.S. without a parent or guardian into the hands of unvetted sponsors within the U.S., which the Republicans often warned “continue to exploit and abuse” such children.
“Even as the trafficking business and the number of children entering the U.S. surged, HHS ORR cut back significantly on background checks and vetting procedures to speed up the process, despite knowing children were being trafficked through HHS ORR’s [unaccompanied alien children] program,” the lawmakers wrote.
In addition, the Republicans brought attention to HHS’ lack of sharing information related to unaccompanied children and sponsors with law enforcement and Customs and Border Protection’s inability to conduct familial DNA testing – both practices of which were previously championed by then-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris.
“Then-Senator Harris called this attempt to protect children and communities ‘outrageous,’” the lawmakers wrote. “These protections would have helped ensure children were safe. Instead, the actions of your Administration have been disastrous and now, HHS ORR is actively attempting to cover up the results of its egregious decisions. We call upon you to put an end to that cover-up.”
The Republicans said HHS’ failure to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the unaccompanied alien children by not properly and thoroughly vetting sponsors is “harmful not only to the [children], but also to American citizens.”
“As the Attorney General under the Trump Administration recognized, the [unaccompanied alien children] program has for years suffered from exploitation by criminals, including “gang members who come to this country as wolves in sheep[’s] clothing” and use the [unaccompanied alien children] program as a means by which to recruit new members,” the lawmakers said.
The Republicans concluded the letter by urging Biden and Harris to direct HHS to “stop its cover-up and cooperate with law enforcement and Congress to end this crisis and protect unaccompanied children and the American people.”
The lawmakers said they believe that HHS has been unable to contact nearly 150,000 unaccompanied alien children through Safety and Well-being calls after their release since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
