FIRST ON FOX: Dozens of Republican lawmakers within the Home and Senate are slamming the Biden-Harris administration’s dealing with of the a whole lot of hundreds of unaccompanied migrant kids who’ve come into the U.S. since 2021 – alleging a “cover-up” of data and the way insurance policies have led to potential exploitation.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, led lawmakers in a prolonged letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the administration of failing unaccompanied migrant kids “by dashing them out of the custody of your Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) Workplace of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) into the fingers of unvetted sponsors who usually proceed to use and abuse them.”
Greater than 500,000 unaccompanied alien kids (UAC) have crossed the border with no dad or mum or guardian since 2021. When unaccompanied children come to the border, they’re presently turned over by Border Patrol to Well being and Human Providers (HHS) who will try to search out them a sponsor inside the nation — sometimes a member of the family.
Migrants stroll alongside the freeway via Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, Sunday, July 21, 2024, throughout their journey north towards the U.S. border. ((AP Photograph/Edgar H. Clemente))
The letter claims the administration has in the reduction of on background checks and vetting procedures, as a part of an effort to hurry up the method. They are saying the administration “continued Vice President Harris’s longtime precedence of chopping again on info sharing between HHS ORR and legislation enforcement associated to unaccompanied kids and sponsors.”
The letter is led by Grassley, and contains Senate Homeland Safety Committee Rating Member Ron Johnson, Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Senate Well being, Schooling Labor and Pensions Committee Rating Member Invoice Cassidy and Home Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock.
The lawmakers level to strikes by the administration to restrict familial DNA testing, and Trump-era proposals to offer post-release verify ups for these handed over to sponsors.
The difficulty got here into the highlight final yr when the New York Occasions reported on how the company has been unable to succeed in 85,000 minors and misplaced quick contact with a 3rd of them.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated at the moment that the quantity “doesn’t sound in any respect to be sensible” and “what we do is we try to comply with up as finest we will with these youngsters.”
“Congress has given us sure authorities. Our authorities finish when we have now discovered an appropriate sponsor to put that baby with. We try to do some comply with up however neither the kid or the sponsor is definitely obligated to comply with up with us,” he stated.
ICE LOST TRACK OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT KIDS, DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL FINDS
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was launched from a Washington-area hospital after receiving therapy for an unspecified an infection his workplace stated Thursday. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photographs)
This yr, the Division of Homeland Safety’s Inspector Common despatched a report back to Congress discovering that, over the previous 5 years, greater than 32,000 UACs didn’t present for immigration courtroom hearings, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement couldn’t account for the placement of all of those that didn’t seem.
The lawmakers stated that HHS ORR is “actively making an attempt to cowl up the outcomes of its egregious choices” to roll again vetting, additionally accusing the administration of silencing whistleblowers. The letter additionally says that DHS just lately knowledgeable Grassley’s workplace that HHS has not complied sufficiently with two out of three subpoenas/info requests from his referral of attainable baby trafficking rings.
“By not supplying the knowledge legislation enforcement requested, ORR denied Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) brokers essential info, together with the final identified addresses of youngsters and sponsors and the identification of different family members,” the letter says.
Additionally they argue that HHS’s alleged failure to vet sponsors has led to the ignoring of attainable gang affiliations, with no coverage in place to refer suspected gang members for prosecution or investigation. It highlights the demise of Kayla Hamilton, allegedly by the hands of an unaccompanied migrant.
HHS CHIEF ‘UNFAMILIAR’ WITH REPORTS THAT AGENCY CAN’T CONTACT 85,000 UNACCOMPANIED MIGRANT KIDS
“HHS should cease its cover-up and cooperate with legislation enforcement and Congress to finish this disaster and shield unaccompanied kids and the American folks,” they are saying. Fox reached out to the White Home and HHS for remark.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
The letter comes as immigration stays a prime 2024 concern. Republicans have pointed to the historic disaster on the southern border and tied it to the “open borders” insurance policies of the administration.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The administration says that these numbers have dropped sharply in current months after President Biden signed an govt order limiting asylum claims on the border. It has referred to as on Republicans to help a bipartisan border safety invoice unveiled earlier this yr. Republicans have stated that invoice will codify excessive ranges of unlawful immigration.
