A pair of Republican senators are demanding that federal officials account for how they reportedly lost track of 85,000 migrant children over the past two years.
The clamor from Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) comes on the heels of a February New York Times report that the Department of Health and Human Services had been unable to contact thousands of unaccompanied minors who were placed with sponsors after crossing the border — raising fears that they have been trafficked for cheap labor.
“The FBI must mount a full-scale effort to locate these missing children and to bring to justice the criminals who are holding them in modern-day slavery,” Hawley wrote in his Thursday missive to bureau Director Christopher Wray.
Calling the Biden administration “morally responsible” for the situation, Hawley demanded the FBI investigate both HHS and the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly turning a blind eye to whistleblowers, writing, “The FBI must also investigate HHS and the Department of Homeland Security for their role in facilitating the exploitation of these children, in violation of the law.”
In a separate letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Blackburn said she was “deeply concerned” over the situation and asked Becerra to say when he learned “of the mishandling and exploitation” of children whose well-being the department is meant to monitor.
Caseworkers who spoke with the Times estimated that up to two-thirds of unaccompanied child border crossers wound up employed full-time — and claimed that HHS ignored signs that kids were being exploited.
The White House announced last week that Susan Rice, President Biden’s top domestic policy adviser, would be leaving her position after a follow-up report by the Times last week indicated she had ignored concerns related to migrants being forced to work. --->READ MORE HERE
Two outrages: ORR director doesn’t know, and most of the media doesn’t seem to care
The House Oversight Committee’s National Security Subcommittee held a hearing this week on the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Alien Children Program. Robin Dunn Marcos, director of the office, appeared, but if you watch that hearing you’ll learn a lot more from the questions than the answers — because there weren’t many answers on key issues, such as the fate of 85,000 children the office has apparently lost contact with. Someone needs to put a up a large “Help Wanted” sign in Washington, because the American people are desperately in need of accountability on migrant children — both in the government and in the media.
“Unaccompanied Alien Children”. Until late 2002, unaccompanied alien children or “UACs” were not really a thing. That’s not to say that the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) — precursor to CBP and ICE in immigration enforcement and to USCIS in adjudicating immigration benefits — did not encounter, process, and in cases detain alien kids without parents or guardians. It did.
And it often received criticism for how it did so. In 1985, two organizations sued the INS on behalf of alien children being detained by the agency. The purpose of the suit, as NPR has explained, was to “challeng[e] procedures regarding the detention, treatment, and release of children”.
That case went through several levels of judicial review, including by the Supreme Court in March 1993 on the question of whether the then-controlling regulation limiting the release of those children without parents or guardians violated the constitution’s Due Process clause.
That regulation provided for the release of UACs only to their parents, close relatives, or legal guardians, "except in unusual and compelling circumstances". If not released under this provision, an INS official was required to find "suitable placement ... in a facility designated for the occupancy of juveniles."
Justice Scalia, writing for six other justices, found that the regulation was not unconstitutional. He noted: --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
GOP Lawmakers Press Biden Administration Official on Whereabouts of 85,000 Migrant Children
NY Times reporter shoots back at Biden’s health chief over missing migrant children
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