“We will do the best we can,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said when asked if he would make any changes to his term. HHS has lost contact with thousands of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) after they were released to adult sponsors in the United States, the Inspector General (IG) revealed.
At a hearing before the House Immigration Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Becerra testified that he has no intention of changing any decisions or policies related to his term.
“Are you going to change anything that this administration has done over the past four years regarding the 320,000 missing children?” Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) asked Becerra. , Mr. Becerra responded:
We work tirelessly to strengthen and improve our unaccompanied children programs and work hard to keep children safe and well-being first and foremost. Every day is a challenge and we will do our best. [Emphasis added]
On Becerra's watch, approximately 365,705 UACs were released into the interior of the United States from fiscal years 2021 to 2023. For comparison, only about 83,100 UACs were released into the interior of the United States in the past two fiscal years of the Trump administration.
Tens of thousands of UACs fail to show up for their immigration hearings after being released into the interior of the United States, and even more alarmingly, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provides hundreds of thousands with notices to appear in immigration court. (NTA). UAC's.
“Based on our audit work and ICE officials, UACs who fail to appear in court are considered to be at high risk for human trafficking, exploitation, and forced labor,” the IG report states.
While we identified more than 32,000 UACs who failed to appear for their immigration court dates, that number would have increased if ICE had issued NTAs to the more than 291,000 UACs who were not placed in removal proceedings. It could have increased even more. By not issuing NTAs to all UACs, ICE limits its opportunities to contact UACs released from HHS custody and reduces the opportunity to verify their safety. Without the ability to monitor the location and status of UACs, ICE has no guarantee that UACs are safe from human trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor. [Emphasis added]
Similarly, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) asked Becerra whether he could say without a doubt that the thousands of UACs who have lost contact with government agencies are safe from harm.
“Can you explain what happens to these over 400,000 children, the 320,000 listed in the Inspector General's report, and the 85,000 children in 2023 that we talked about earlier?” These children. Do you know where it is and if it's safe?'' Roy asked.
“Congressman, as I explained the process, we will receive these children as they are referred to us by the Department of Homeland Security,” Becerra responded. “We then provide care for them while they are in custody. Once we find a vetted sponsor for them to stay, we lose custody of those children.”
In February, the HHS IG published The report found that in 22 percent of incidents, authorities did not conduct adequate and secure follow-up calls to check with UACs released to U.S. adult sponsors.
In fiscal year 2023, the Department of Labor: 88 percent Last year, nearly 6,000 children, many of them UACs, were found illegally engaged in cruel and often life-threatening work.
Last April, an HHS whistleblower testified before Congress that HHS was running a “multi-billion dollar child trafficking operation” in which UACs were being released in large numbers to uninvestigated adult sponsors. I warned you.
“Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used to generate income. This is why we are seeing a surge in labor trafficking.” the whistleblower said.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
