Since 2014, this Committee has conducted rigorous oversight of issues related to Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and the system put into place to care for UACs by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR). 2014 is when the first major influx of UAC and family units crossing into the United States occurred. As a result of this Committee’s oversight, improvements were made to the UAC program, but questions remain and we have more work to do.
The immigration issue is complex, and one that Congress and the country have been grappling with for decades. While I support strong enforcement of our nation’s borders, I want to make something very clear - I support keeping families together, and strongly believe that children should not be separated from their parents. That is why I, and every Republican member of this Committee, sent a letter to HHS last June expressing our belief that children should not be separated from their parents. In addition, our letter sought information from HHS to ensure that children who are in ORR’s custody - whether they crossed the border as an unaccompanied alien child or because they crossed the border with a family member and were subsequently separated - are properly cared for while in ORR’s care. I’d like to ask the Chair for unanimous consent that the June letter be entered into the hearing record.
It is also why I led a bipartisan delegation of members down to McAllen, Texas in July to visit and tour part of the Southwest border, a port of entry, a central processing facility operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility, and an ORR shelter. It is also why Committee staff have since visited an additional 5 ORR facilities, including the temporary influx ORR shelter in Tornillo, Texas that has since closed. I would also like to ask for unanimous consent that a memo drafted by Republican staff about the facilities our bipartisan delegation visited last July be entered into the record.
While the Committee has conducted oversight over the UAC program and ORR facilities for the past five years, it is critical to today’s hearing to acknowledge that ORR, and the role that it plays in caring for UACs, is a vital but small part of our immigration process. ORR and HHS’s responsibility is to care for the children that have been transferred to their custody from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and then work to reunify or vet and place children with a safe and appropriate sponsor. For the children who were separated from their parents, those separations happened because of immigration enforcement decisions made by the Department of Justice and carried out by DHS.
The majority’s stated objective is to assess HHS’ preparation and response to the zero-tolerance policy and its efforts to reunify children with their families. Given HHS’ role in caring for and reunifying the children that were separated, as well as their role in caring for traditional UACs, we felt it was important to invite them to testify as our one minority witness for the first panel of today’s hearing.
We greatly appreciate the witnesses that are here appearing before us today. That said, in order to adequately examine the zero-tolerance policy that lead to family separations, it is critical that DOJ and DHS be part of the conversation as well.
Thank you, and I yield back.
