Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on Tuesday, led 38 Senate Republicans in calling on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to overhaul its harmful and deficient policies governing the agency’s treatment of unaccompanied alien children in the United States. ORR’s proposed rule – parts of which the agency is already enforcing – allows vulnerable children to be placed in the custody of unvetted, potentially criminal sponsors and obstructs whistleblowers from reporting to Congress on abuse in the program. Grassley and fellow Republicans are demanding ORR rewrite its policies or face congressional action to overturn the finalized rule.
“This Proposed Rule ignores nearly seven years of oversight conducted by Congress and the Office of Inspector General and reveals chronic foot-dragging—if not total reluctance—when it comes to protecting vulnerable children,” the senators wrote. “It provides ample protections to government bureaucrats at the expense of children. Even more concerning, ‘the requirements being [adopted] in this proposed rule are already enforced by [the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)].’”
