The Biden Administration was questioned this week about the thousands of unaccompanied missing illegal immigrant children.
Biden Administration Under Fire For Missing Immigrant Children
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) noted that more than 85,000 UACs released into the U.S. interior from DHS custody have been lost in the system after being sent to live with sponsors and family members by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“We’ve got 85,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children … who have been released in the U.S. and HHS has lost track of these unaccompanied children,” Blackburn said. “… what you’re doing on the border is causing 85,000 children to be lost, can’t find them, and not knowing if they’re being trafficked, put in gangs, put in the sex trade.”
“Please do better,” Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., told a Biden administration official responsible for caring for children who cross unaccompanied and unlawfully into the United States.
Porter criticized “corporate America” for “putting children in danger to boost their profits,” she also called on the Biden administration to address the abuse of migrant children and ensure greater safety for them.
Over the past two years, more than 250,000 migrant children have come alone to the United States. Thousands of children have ended up in punishing jobs across the country — working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories — all in violation of child labor laws
Where Do Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Go?
Unaccompanied migrant children remain in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they are placed with a parent or sponsor, but the agency “does not monitor or track the whereabouts of children after they are released from our care,” Marcos told subcommittee members.
In February, The New York Times reported that even though HHS “checks on all minors by calling them a month after they begin living with their sponsors,” data obtained by the newspaper “showed that over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children.”
In the hearing representatives grilled Ms. Dunn Marcos witness about the Biden Administration losing track of 85,000 unaccompanied alien children.
“Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children,” the Times reported.
“Could the 85,000 number be right that The New York Times has? We don’t know where 85,000 unaccompanied minors wound up?” Grothman asked.
“We do not track or monitor … ,” Marcos began to respond.
“The answer is no,” Grothman interjected. “There are 85,000 kids who came across the border, we don’t know [where they are]. Is that right? Apparently, it is.”
“[The Office of Refugee Resettlement] works within the statutes and authorities and resources provided,” Marcos said.
“OK, well, we’ll take that to mean we don’t know where they are,” the Wisconsin Republican said.
Watch below:
America’s Border Crisis
“Since President Biden has been in office, there have been over 4.8 million migrant encounters at the Southwest border, not including the roughly 1.3 million gotaways who evaded law enforcement completely and entered our country undetected. This unprecedented national security and humanitarian crisis has overwhelmed federal officials and endangered the well-being of unaccompanied and migrant children as a result,” Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.) said during the hearing.
The ongoing crisis at America’s southern border has “endangered the well-being of unaccompanied migrant children,” Rep. Jake LaTurner, R-Kan., said.
Since fiscal year 2023 began Oct. 1, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than 1.2 million illegal aliens at the southern border. CBP also has seized 13,800 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border in the same time frame.
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