I thank you Senators Johnson and Cassidy for co-leading this roundtable, and of course I thank the panelists for being here. You’re doing great public service by testifying at this roundtable.
Today we’re going to discuss a matter of significant importance.
Through congressional oversight, we’re trying to hold [the] executive branch accountable, not just in the area of child exploitation, but it’s a constitutional responsibility for all facets of the government
We’re discussing protecting children from exploitation and harm when they arrive in the United States without a parent or a guardian.
During the previous administration, we frequently heard very sharp criticism from Democrats that Trump was putting kids in cages. In reality, these children were housed in facilities and their well-being was a top priority.
The mainstream media was outraged when the Trump [administration] couldn’t account for 1,500 migrant kids.
Yet, Biden has literally lost over 85,000 kids. And we don’t hear a peep about it from the media. That’s stunningly unacceptable because the media has as much responsibility to hold all of government responsible, not just through congressional oversight.
The Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is endangering these vulnerable children in many ways.
HHS is placing children with sponsors who aren’t fully vetted.
HHS has reduced background checks.
HHS has failed to make sure identification documents submitted by potential sponsors are really authentic.
HHS isn’t doing legally-required home studies.
And that of course is just the tip of the iceberg.
These problems are now a full-blown crisis.
This administration’s failure to secure the Southern border has resulted in a huge surge of unaccompanied children.
That failure, coupled with this administration’s order to speed up processing of these children, has resulted in serious risks to those same children.
In 2015, I raised concerns about HHS rushing children out the door to a sponsor who wasn’t vetted right.
HHS has now admitted it’s cut the length of stay down more than twenty percent.
That’s not more vetting. That’s more rushing.
Just like Secretary Becerra wanted – an assembly line, using his words.
In late 2015, I received whistleblower information that minors were being released to sponsors with criminal records that included domestic violence and child molestation. Potentially life threatening for those individuals.
I asked this during a February 2016 Judiciary Committee hearing on this issue, and I quote myself, “How many more minors have been released into the care of others who claim to be their parents or family friends who don’t really care about their well-being?”
When I last chaired the Senate Finance Committee, I launched an oversight investigation with my colleague, Democratic Ranking Member Wyden, now chairman of that Committee, and we did it on these very same issues. That investigation carried over into my Ranking Membership on the Judiciary Committee last Congress.
Our bipartisan investigation revealed HHS’s failure to conduct basic oversight needed to ensure the safety of children from sexual and physical abuse at its shelters.
Unfortunately, children are still suffering, and HHS has failed to get its act together.
Accordingly, I’ve continued my oversight work on the Budget Committee. No matter what committee I’m on, this issue will remain important to me.
I’ve recently expanded my ongoing investigation. For example, internal government records have been obtained showing that the Biden HHS and one of the major contractors, Cherokee Federal, has placed kids in very dangerous situations even after being warned not to place them there.
I’ve written to two dozen HHS contractors and grantees to ask what they’re doing to prevent children from falling into the hands of traffickers and those trying to exploit these children.
These entities collectively receive billions of taxpayer dollars and thus have a duty to answer Congress when it wants to know how those funds are all being spent.
The Biden administration’s HHS instructed these very entities that I wrote to not to respond to this Senator, and instead to direct my inquiry back to HHS.
This is obstruction. Just like what the Biden EPA tried to do in my oversight work of some of those contractors.
HHS wants these contractors to be silent. And you will soon see why they want them to be silent.
The United States Congress must demand that silence be broken.
I won’t tire in seeking those answers. Today, we’re going to take another step on that path with this forum.
And as part of our next steps together, my colleagues and I’ll be requesting that Government Accountability Office conduct updated work to ensure that the HHS Unaccompanied [Alien] Children program has proper internal controls.
Of course, my other investigative activities will certainly continue, and no stone will be left unturned. For example, in January of this year, I issued a law enforcement referral to the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI regarding additional evidence of human trafficking that I obtained.
These children deserve nothing less than our maximum effort.
Now I’d like to recognize Senator Cassidy for his opening statement, and then Senator Johnson will follow him. Then I’ll introduce the people that are at our panel, and we thank you for participating.
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