Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) has joined Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and a bipartisan group of 44 Senate colleagues in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution. This resolution aims to disapprove and nullify a Biden Administration rule that, according to its critics, jeopardizes the safety and well-being of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who cross the border into the United States.
The resolution advocates for significant reforms to the government’s UAC program, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The UAC program is designed to reunite unaccompanied migrant children with family members or other trusted adult sponsors residing in the U.S. However, the resolution sponsors argue that the current policies and practices are insufficient to protect these children from potential abuse and exploitation.
Critics of the rule, finalized in April of this year, argue that it codifies harmful practices such as lax or optional sponsor vetting, refusal to consider a sponsor’s criminal record including illegal drug use and history of abuse or neglect, refusal to share a sponsor’s immigration status with law enforcement, weak standards for post-release home studies to determine a child’s status or safety once in the custody of a sponsor, and restrictions on whistleblowers’ rights to disclose information on wrongdoing and misconduct in the program to Congress and the HHS Inspector General.
Senator Britt expressed strong opposition to the rule, stating that the Biden Administration’s border crisis is both a humanitarian and a national security disaster of historic magnitude. She argued that the rule is the latest in a series of inhumane, reckless policies that exacerbate the situation. Britt emphasized the need to secure the border and end what she described as lawlessness, pledging to continue standing up to President Biden’s agenda, which she believes puts American families and vulnerable migrants at risk every day.
Senator Grassley also voiced his concerns, highlighting that the Biden administration ignored warnings from Congress and the Inspector General about the risks to children. He stated that the administration’s current policies have resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of vulnerable children and the handing over of many others to abusers and criminals. Grassley described this exploitation as one of the most heartbreaking tragedies of the Biden Border Crisis and asserted that since the Biden administration has failed to address the problem, it is now up to Congress to intervene.
The resolution has garnered support from a diverse group of senators, including Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senator Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), and 42 other senators from both parties. Migrant children who enter the U.S. illegally without an adult are detained and placed in the UAC program, run by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement. The federal government allocates billions of taxpayer dollars to contractors and grantees to operate the UAC program and enforce HHS policies. The proposed resolution seeks to address perceived deficiencies in the program’s current operational standards to better protect unaccompanied children.
