WASHINGTON, D.C. — 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 to strike down the Biden administration’s rule endangering the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied alien children.

The CRA would force meaningful reforms to 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,” Ranking Member Capito said. “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.”

BACKGROUND:

Migrant children who enter the U.S. illegally without an adult are detained and placed in the UC program, run by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). HHS’s UC program is intended to reunify unaccompanied migrant children with family members or other trusted adult sponsors residing in the U.S. The federal government pays contractors and grantees billions of taxpayer dollars to operate the UC program and enforce HHS’s negligent policies.  

The HHS rule Ranking Member Capito is seeking to overturn, which was finalized in April, codifies harmful practices, including:  

  1. Lax or optional sponsor vetting;
  2. Refusal to consider a sponsor’s criminal record, including illegal drug use, history of abuse or neglect, or other necessarily disqualifying child welfare concerns;   
  3. Refusal to share a sponsor’s immigration status with law enforcement; 
  4. Weak standards for post-release home studies to determine a child’s status or safety once in the custody of a sponsor; and
  5. Restrictions on whistleblowers’ rights to disclose to Congress and the HHS Inspector General (IG) information on wrongdoing and misconduct in the program. 

Full text of the resolution of disapproval can be found here.

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