House Republicans on Wednesday criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra's failure to account for thousands of missing migrant children and the process for vetting sponsors amid concerns of exploitation and abuse. He was harshly criticized.
Becerra testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement about the department's Office of Refugee Resettlement. The agency is responsible for the care and placement of unaccompanied migrant children.
Republican subcommittee members said the Biden administration has been under scrutiny for rushing immigrant children out of HHS custody and sometimes exploiting and abusing them without conducting adequate background checks. They accused him of putting it into the hands of a sponsor who didn't want him.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing entitled “The President's 2025 Health and Human Services Budget'' Thursday, March 14, 2024, in the Dirk Sen Building. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
“How can we say our top priority is their safety when we are placing our children in the homes of sponsors who sometimes have ties to criminal organizations due to lack of proper background checks?” Arizona Republican asked Congressman Andy Biggs.
Becerra said his agency follows “child welfare best practices,” including “extensive” background checks.
“Sponsors are not allowed to take children if they have information indicating that the children are engaged in criminal activity,” he said.
Health Secretary Xavier Becerra testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. (House Judiciary Republican/X)
But lawmakers said thousands of violent criminal illegal immigrants and unaccompanied immigrant children have been released across the country under the Biden administration's watch.
They cited the murder of Laken Riley, a college student in Georgia who was killed by an illegal immigrant, and the 2022 murder of Kayla Hamilton in Maryland by Walter Javier Martinez, who was in the country illegally from El Salvador.
Martinez was brought to ORR as an unaccompanied child, even though he had been previously arrested in his home country.
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“One call to the Salvadoran authorities would have confirmed the link between this and MS-13,” said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), the subcommittee chairman. “Instead, Mr. Martinez was released into our country without question. He has since admitted to four counts of murder, two counts of rape, and other crimes.”
Other incidents include the murder of 11-year-old Maria Gonzalez, who was found sexually assaulted and strangled to death in her home last year by her father.
Her alleged killer, Juan Carlos Garcia Rodriguez, entered the United States illegally from Guatemala in 2023 but was allowed to stay through a sponsor in Louisiana.
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Migrant children wait in line at a “juvenile” facility in San Benito, Texas, in 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay File)
In the case of screening unaccompanied children, the Department of Homeland Security handles that task, Becerra said. After a child is taken into custody, HHS vets potential sponsors, he said.
“HHS's custody and overnight lodging responsibilities for unaccompanied children under ORR end when the child is placed with properly vetted supervision,” the Secretary said.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) noted that the Biden administration has taken in more than 100,000 refugees in the past year alone, compared to 12,000 in 2020 under President-elect Trump. did.
“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, Americans are being left behind while the needs of the ‘new’ Americans are pushed to the forefront,” Hunt said. “Americans are tired of being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
Asked what would be different in four years, Becerra could not answer the question.
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“Do you realize what impact this is going to have on the lives of a population that you're putting in place that's approaching the size of Wyoming?” McClintock asked. “Some of them are innocent, defenseless children. There are also gang members who are 17 years old or pretending to be 17 years old.”
“Mr. Secretary, when the history of this administration is written, I don't want you to be looking back at what historians say about your tenure,” he said before ending the hearing.
