Grassley Moves to Overturn Biden Admin Rule Enabling Abuse of Unaccompanied Migrant Children

WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today led Senate colleagues in introducing a bipartisan Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution 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 government’s Unaccompanied Children (UC) program. Grassley is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles immigration matters.  

  

“The Biden administration ignored warnings from Congress and the Inspector General that its policies put children at risk and instead moved to finalize its current rule. Biden’s Health and Human Services Department has lost tens of thousands of vulnerable kids and handed over many others to abusers and criminals. This exploitation is one of the most heartbreaking tragedies the Biden Border Crisis has created. Since the Biden administration has refused to lift a finger to fix this problem, it’s now up to Congress to put a stop to it,” Grassley said.

  

Migrant children who enter the U.S. illegally without an adult are detained and placed in the Unaccompanied Children (UC) program, run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (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 Grassley 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. 

The resolution is cosponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), EricSchmitt (R-Mo.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Cindy Hyde-Smith, (R-Miss.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), RickScott (R-Fla.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

  

Text of the resolution is HERE.  

  

Grassley in December led 38 Senate colleagues in a letter condemning HHS’s then-Proposed Rule as “wholly unworkable.” The senators urged HHS to “discard [the rule] and its current practices” or face a resolution of disapproval. Today’s action follows through on that promise. 

  

Grassley has a nearly decade-long history conducting oversight of the federal government’s care for unaccompanied minors. Recent whistleblower disclosures prompted Grassley to refer to federal law enforcement potential evidence of suspected child trafficking and smuggling based on internal UC program records. Grassley also raised serious concerns that the HHS rule stifles HHS employees and contractors from making whistleblower disclosures to Congress or the HHS IG, and called on the Office of Special Counsel to investigate HHS’s deficient whistleblower protections. Further, he’s launched an extensive review into the federal contractors and grantees who are paid to provide food, shelter and other basic services to children in the UC program.