U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) and a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, recently joined a group of senators led by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval. The resolution aims to overturn the Biden administration’s rule concerning unaccompanied migrant children.
The CRA seeks to enforce reforms in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Unaccompanied Children (UC) program. “President Biden’s disastrous policies have made our southern border incredibly dangerous, especially for children who are on their own,” stated Ranking Member Capito. “The rule that my colleagues and I are attempting to overturn puts the most vulnerable, unaccompanied minors in harm’s way by letting people take them into custody without making their safety a priority. This is a bad policy and I am proud to join my colleagues to reverse it.”
Migrant children entering the U.S. illegally without an adult are detained and placed in the UC program, managed by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The program’s goal is to reunify these children with family members or other trusted adult sponsors residing in the U.S. The federal government allocates billions of taxpayer dollars to contractors and grantees operating the UC program under HHS policies.
The HHS rule targeted by Ranking Member Capito was finalized in April and includes several controversial practices:
– Lax or optional sponsor vetting;
– Refusal to consider a sponsor’s criminal record, including illegal drug use, history of abuse or neglect, or other child welfare concerns;
– Refusal to share a sponsor’s immigration status with law enforcement;
– Weak standards for post-release home studies determining a child’s status or safety once in custody; and
– Restrictions on whistleblowers’ rights to disclose information on wrongdoing and misconduct within the program to Congress and the HHS Inspector General.
Full text of the resolution of disapproval can be found here.
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