Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, explained that the flawed system that the government relies on to find sponsors for kids who come over the border has been further weakened by President Joe Biden, and the senator maintains that children will grieve.
Earlier this spring, in the midst of the highest-ever levels of migrant children coming alone on the U.S.-Mexico boundary, the Biden administration decided to stop getting as much personal information from adults who volunteered to take care of the children after they were let out of the Department of Health and Human Service’s child care centers.
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The move was meant to help illegal immigrants living in the United States who came forward to get children without worrying that they would risk getting caught by law enforcement and deported in the process.
Portman said he is concerned about the Biden administration’s call for all employees of government agencies to help out at HHS facilities working with children in custody, calling it a recipe for trouble and that the bureaucrats themselves could be a danger to children.
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“While I am not aware of any wrongdoing yet, I am concerned that those employees could pose a risk to children — either because of potential intentional bad acts or because they are not properly trained or credentialed to work with children — especially those who have faced traumatic circumstances in their home countries or on their trip to the border,” Portman announced in an email. “I would hope that HHS would share ... the type of background checks if any, that HHS completes before the federal employees arrive to care for the children.”
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Furthermore, because of the way HHS releases immigrant children, local schools are not informed, suggesting that they are not prepared for new enrollees. Portman has tracked this specific issue for six years and relayed that he was told by state and local officials that “they are not told anything about the arrival of unaccompanied children in their states.”
“This means that no one in the school systems knows to be tracking whether these children show up to school,” Portman wrote. “That leaves these children more vulnerable to abuse, trafficking, and performing work that violates U.S. labor laws. It also leaves the school systems unprepared to accommodate the additional students who show up to class — particularly those who have special needs or language requirements.”
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