HHS Spent $13 Billion Sponsoring And Losing Migrant Kids Over The Last Decade; Jim Banks Grills Biden Official over Labor Trafficking Pipeline of Migrant Kids — ‘What the Heck are You Doing?’

HHS Spent $13 Billion Sponsoring And Losing Migrant Kids Over The Last Decade:

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has spent more than $13 billion sponsoring unaccompanied minors at the United States border since 2012, according to recent reporting from OpenTheBooks.com. This staggering figure is even worse in the context of a shocking February report from The New York Times, which revealed that while HHS follows up with minors one month after their sponsor placements, the department has been unable to get ahold of at least 85,000 children in just the past two years.

Unaccompanied children are defined by the ORR as those under the age of 18 with “no lawful immigration status in the United States” and no parent or legal guardian to “provide care and physical custody.” The Unaccompanied Children (UC) program places minors attempting to enter the U.S. with state-licensed sponsors in an attempt to avoid the high risk of exploitation children face in Mexican border towns.

This year, the ORR spent $2.7 billion to sponsor unaccompanied minors at a rate of $18,000 per child. For reference, the cost to educate per student in Texas, where most of the UC program spending occurs, is $9,871.

Recent reports show the ORR losing track of some children as quickly as one month after placement. ORR policy is to call a child at their placement to ensure their well-being after a month, but over the last two years, the agency failed to reach more than 85,000 children. —>READ MORE HERE

Jim Banks Grills Biden Official over Labor Trafficking Pipeline of Migrant Kids — ‘What the Heck are You Doing?’:

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) grilled President Joe Biden’s Acting Labor Department Secretary Julie Su over a labor trafficking pipeline within the United States that now includes many Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) after they were released into the U.S. from the southern border.

Since Biden took office, Health and Human Services (HHS) officials have lost contact with some 85,000 UACs after releasing them into the U.S. interior to adult sponsors — the overwhelming majority of whom are not their biological parents.

Reports indicate that top Biden officials such as HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice have ignored warnings that UACs are ending up in a widespread labor trafficking pipeline as well as sex trafficking and general abuse at the hands of their adult sponsors.

During a committee hearing on Wednesday, Banks asked Su what exactly the Labor Department was doing about the labor trafficking pipeline.

“Reportedly hundreds of thousands of illegal children have entered our workforce in dangerous jobs and this story says that you and this administration have completely ignored what I believe is another example of the biggest humanitarian crisis in American history. What the heck are you doing about it?” Banks asked.

Su, though, responded that the agency is doing all it can do to prevent violations of the nation’s child labor laws, an answer that Banks did not accept. —>READ MORE HERE

Source