Grassley Puts HHS Vetting, Information Sharing under Microscope amid Biden Harris Admin’s Neglect to Protect Migrant Children

Grassley Puts HHS Vetting, Information-Sharing under Microscope amid Biden-Harris Admin's Neglect to Protect Migrant Children

Oversight inquiry comes on heels of alarming DHS watchdog report

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA - U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is seeking information from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Homeland Security (DHS) regarding their documented failure to protect over 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children (UCs). Grassley's oversight follows up on an August 19, 2024 watchdog report revealing DHS has not accounted for all UCs HHS released to sponsors, scheduled UCs' immigration court appearances or attempted to locate UCs who skipped scheduled proceedings.

"[The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)]'s lax vetting has placed migrant children in grave danger of exploitation and abuse and makes locating these children after placement difficult, something I fear hinders the work of DHS as well," Grassley wrote. "I won't tire in my commitment to protect these children and bring about needed reforms to ensure they aren't placed in the hands of traffickers and those seeking to exploit them."

The Biden-Harris administration, as part of its open border agenda, terminated a Trump administration policy that enhanced critical HHS and DHS information-sharing. This action resulted in broken inter-agency communications channels and continues to contribute to the growing migrant children crisis. Specifically, the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) uncovered last month:

• UC entries into the U.S. have surged under the Biden-Harris administration. Of the 448,820 UCs in ORR custody from fiscal year (FY) 2019 to FY 2023, DHS placed roughly 366,000 of them - or 81 percent -with ORR between FYs 2021 and 2023.

• The Biden-Harris administration is not keeping tabs on UCs in its custody. Between FYs 2019 and 2023, Immigration and Customs Enforcement neglected to issue notices to appear (NTAs) in immigration court for 65 percent of UCs transferred from DHS custody within that same period.

• The Biden-Harris administration has lost track of thousands more UCs. Between FYs 2019 and 2023, over 32,000 UCs who received NTAs did not appear in court.

Grassley's letters to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkasare available at the corresponding links.

Background:

Grassley has a nearly decade-long history conducting oversight of the federal government's care for unaccompanied minors.

This Congress, he's sought to overturn a Biden-Harris HHS rule endangering UCs. Grassley in July held a roundtable to hear from whistleblowers who witnessed firsthand the rampant issues in the Biden administration's UC program. He launched an extensive review of federal contractors and grantees who are paid to provide UCs food, shelter and other basic services, as well as vet sponsors with whom they stay while they await their immigration proceedings. In January, Grassley alerted federal law enforcement to evidence of suspected child trafficking and sponsorship vetting shortfalls at HHS.

Given whistleblowers' pivotal role in rooting out wrongdoing in the executive branch, Grassley raised serious concerns HHS policies aim to prevent employees and contractors from making whistleblower disclosures to Congress or the HHS OIG. He called on the Office of the Special Counsel to examine HHS' deficient whistleblower protections.

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