Senators Tuberville, Britt, and Colleagues call out Biden-Harris administration for abuse of the Unaccompanied Alien Children Program

September 24, 2024 – Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and Katie Britt (R-Alabama) released a rare joint press release to announced that they have joined U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and 41 Republican colleagues from both Houses of Congress in signing a letter urging President Joseph R. Biden (D) and Vice President Kamala D. Harris (D) to work with Congress to root out abuses in the unaccompanied alien children (UAC) program and stop what they called the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) cover-up of its gross mismanagement of the program.

In just one, HHS has failed to comply with two out of every three Department of Homeland Security (DHS) subpoenas and other information requests issued amid its investigation into more than 100 identified suspicious UAC sponsors.

"As a result of your open-borders policies, overseen by Vice President Harris, who was tasked with 'stemming the migration' at our border with Mexico, more than 500,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) have crossed the southwest border without a parent or guardian to provide care since you took office, a massive increase when compared to previous administrations," Tuberville, Britt, Grassley, and the members of Congress wrote. "These UACs often experience horrible sexual, physical, and emotional abuse on the journey and are victims of cartel trafficking and exploitation, a business that surged an estimated 2,500 percent from the Trump Administration to the middle of your term in 2022."

"Even as the trafficking business and the number of children entering the U.S. surged, HHS ORR cut back significantly on background checks and vetting procedures to speed up the process, despite knowing children were being trafficked through HHS ORR's UAC program," the members of Congress wrote. "Your Administration likewise continued Vice President Harris's longtime priority of cutting back on information sharing between HHS ORR and law enforcement related to unaccompanied children and sponsors. When the Trump Administration implemented a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to provide for robust information sharing between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and HHS ORR, then-Senator Harris called this attempt to protect children and communities "outrageous." She also introduced legislation in response to the Trump MOA that slashed funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement by $220 million. Her bill was so extreme it failed to allow HHS information to be used by DHS for immigration enforcement even for potential sponsors and household members with convictions or pending charges of child abuse, sexual assault, child pornography, or any other crime. Even House Democrats considered Harris's approach too radical and added these exceptions to counteract the extreme nature of her legislative proposal. Their approach, unlike Harris's, allowed HHS information to be used to deport child predators and those convicted of serious felonies. Given her stated policy priorities, it is no wonder your Administration later revoked the Trump Administration's MOA, seriously hampering the work of law enforcement, and promulgated a final rule enshrining the bar on sharing such information with law enforcement officials."

U.S. Senators Tuberville, Britt, and Grassley were joined by U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Shelley Moore Capito (R-West Virginia), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Montana), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rick Scott (R-Florida), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-South Dakota), and Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) in signing the letter.

A number of GOP members of the House of Representatives – including Congressman Barry Moore (R-Enterprise). Other co-sponsors include: Reps. Cliff Bentz (R-Oregon), Dan Bishop (R-North Carolina), Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), Ben Cline (R-Virginia), Russell Fry (R-South Carolina), Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming), Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Laurel Lee (R-Florida), Tom McClintock (R-California), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Michael Rulli (R-Ohio), and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wisconsin).

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