U.S. Senator James Lankford joins Senators Rob Portman, Richard Blumenthal and Tom Carper introducing a bill to instruct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to better track the unaccompanied minors who cross the border. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) found HHS could not determine the whereabouts of 1,488 out of 11,254 children the agency had placed with sponsors. The Responsibility for Unaccompanied Minors Act, if passed, will require HHS to take better care of those children and to ensure they appear at their immigration court proceedings.
Since 2015, PSI has been conducting oversight of the HHS’ program to place unaccompanied minors with sponsors in this country following reports that HHS placed eight unaccompanied minors with human traffickers who put those children into forced labor in Ohio. PSI, led by Chairman Portman and Ranking Member Carper, has documented its findings in two reports, one released on August 15, 2018, and the other on January 28, 2016. PSI learned that no agency takes responsibility for enforcing sponsor agreements to care for these children once HHS places children with sponsors. HHS has started calling the children 30 days after placement. In April, the Subcommittee learned that out of 7,635 calls made from October-December 2017, 28 children had run away from their sponsors, and HHS could not determine with certainty the location of 1,475 of them. And now the Subcommittee has recently learned that FY 2018 Q3 results are similar. From April 1 to June 30, 2018, HHS tried to call 11,254 UACs and their sponsors. Twenty-five had run away from their sponsors, and HHS could not determine the whereabouts of 1,488 of those children.
“Congress should work to stop illegal border crossings by all individuals, but until that can be accomplished, the Department of Health and Human Services has an obligation to ensure the safety of unaccompanied minors even after they are placed with a sponsor,” said Lankford. “This bill would clarify that just as a state’s responsibility to a child does not end when he or she is placed in a foster home, HHS’ responsibility for the care and custody of a child does not end once that child is placed with a sponsor. I’m glad to join my colleagues Senators Portman, Blumenthal, and Carper to introduce this bill and continue the conversation to protect minors who come to the US without a parent or guardian.”
Following is a brief summary of the Responsibility for Unaccompanied Minors Act:
Clarification of HHS Responsibilities
Problem: HHS denies that it has legal responsibility for UACs once they are placed with sponsors. If sponsors abuse the children or fail to ensure they show up for their immigration court proceedings, HHS denies that it has authority to remove the children from those sponsors’ care and relies entirely on state and local welfare agencies to respond to reports of problems.
Solution: This legislation clarifies and affirms that HHS has ongoing authority to care for UACs until the child’s immigration proceedings conclude. It mandates that HHS must do background checks on all potential sponsors and other adults in the household.
Care of Unaccompanied Alien Children
Problem: If a sponsor neglects a UAC or fails to ensure the child appears at his immigration proceedings, HHS does not rescind the sponsorship agreement automatically.
Solution: This legislation requires HHS to terminate sponsorship and reassume physical custody of the UAC if a non-parental sponsor fails to comply with his sponsorship agreement. It also requires sponsors to accept post-release services when offered by HHS.
State Notification
Problem: Currently, HHS does not notify states or localities when it places UACs with sponsors in a state.
Solution: This legislation requires HHS to notify state welfare agencies before it releases UACs to sponsors within a state. Notification will help states better prepare for UACs living in their states and help legal service providers gain better access to UACs—which will help ensure their presence at immigration proceedings.
Additional Immigration Judges
Problem: The immigration courts have a 700,000+ case backlog, 80,000 of which are UAC cases.
Solution: This legislation provides 225 additional immigration judge teams to help reduce the backlog.
Below is a video of Lankford questioning immigration officials about the placement of immigrant children and how they are handled by the federal government during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday.
