Chairman Mark E. Green said that these unaccompanied minor children crossing the border “remain vulnerable as victims of the unthinkable and devastating horrors of child trafficking.”
The Biden-Harris administration's Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has been subpoenaed by Congress in an attempt to get information from him regarding the vetting of sponsors for unaccompanied minor immigrant children that have crossed the border into the US but have been unaccounted for by immigration authorities.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green (R-TN) subpoenaed Becerra, who oversees the operations of HHS. The agency has been put in charge of placing unaccompanied alien children (UAC) with sponsors in the US.
A press release from Green reads that the "subpoena follows the Biden-Harris administration’s failure to respond and comply with Committee requests for documents and information" regarding HHS's "handling of UACs and those applying to be sponsors of this vulnerable population."
In response to the request for documentation regarding the processing of UACs, Green said that HHS sent 700 documents that were "wholly unresponsive" to the House Committee on Homeland Security's request.
It was reported by the DHS Inspector General this year that between Fiscal Year 2019 and 2023, ICE has transferred over 448,000 UACs to HHS, where the agency is then in charge of placing UACs in the US with sponsors. Of those that were transferred to HHS, 291,000 were not given any notice to appear in immigration court, meaning that tracking the UACs in the US will be difficult if they do not appear in immigration court. Additionally, there were 32,000 UACs who received a notice to appear but never showed up to immigration court. These UACs are more at risk for trafficking, exploitation, and forced labor.
The report stated, "Although we identified more than 32,000 UCs who did not appear for their immigration court dates, that number may have been much larger had ICE issued NTAs to the more than 291,000 UCs who were not placed into removal proceedings. By not issuing NTAs to all UCs, ICE limits its chances of having contact with UCs when they are released from HHS’ custody, which reduces opportunities to verify their safety. Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor."
Green said, “The nearly 520,000 UACs encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) along the Southwest border just from February 2021 through August 2024, with more UACs entering our country every day, remain vulnerable as victims of the unthinkable and devastating horrors of child trafficking. The exigency of this matter related to the youngest among us demands swift solutions based in evidence and facts. The 31 days of inexcusable delinquency in providing the Committee the August 12 requested documents and information is unacceptable.”
Earlier this year, it was reported that HHS sent many UACs to the homes of people with previous criminal histories, those of labor traffickers, and that HHS repeatedly did not complete checks for proper vetting of sponsors. Border Patrol has also warned that minors are being trafficked and drugged in order to pose as children of adults when they cross the southern border, with some as young as 8 years old.
In response to the subpoena, an HHS spokesman said, "As the Committee well knows, HHS prior to the subpoena worked in good faith to provide hundreds of pages of documents while communicating repeatedly to the Committee that it is continuing to work on its request."
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