ICYMI: Cassidy Exposes Biden-Harris Failures to Secure Southern Border, Protect Migrant Children from Exploitation in Fox News Op-ed
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote an op-ed in Fox News slamming the Biden-Harris administration for its failure to protect migrant children from abuse and exploitation. This horrific treatment is directly linked to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ failed open border policies, which have led to 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children crossing the border under their administration. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General found that the Biden-Harris administration cannot confirm the location, safety, or well-being of 323,000 unaccompanied migrant children released from government custody.
“The severe issues with [the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)] and the exploitation of children have been documented for years. Unaccompanied children are still coming over the border in record numbers. Yet, there has been no substantive effort by Biden or Harris to fix their open border policies or reform ORR to protect unaccompanied children from harm,” wrote Dr. Cassidy. “It is clear Democrats do not treat the border or the exploitation of children as a serious problem that needs to be fixed, but a purely messaging issue they only need to ‘prioritize’ in an election year.”
“Make no mistake, Harris is not an accomplice in the border mess, she is the perpetrator... Less than four years later, it is clear she has failed not only the American people but the unaccompanied children who are being exploited and abused because of her willful incompetence,” continued Dr. Cassidy. “The border crisis is Kamala Harris’ legacy. No media spin or rewriting of history will change that.”
For over a year, Cassidy has been investigating the systemic failures at the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is responsible for caring for unaccompanied migrant children once they leave DHS custody and ensuring they are released to safe and thoroughly vetted sponsors. Specifically, Cassidy has found cases where Biden-Harris officials released these children to dangerous sponsors, including sexual predators and those with close ties to MS-13 gang members. Many of these children are also forced into dangerous working conditions and exploited for illegal labor.
Recently, Cassidy called on HELP Committee Democrats to hold a hearing to investigate ORR and one of its contractors over allegations of sexual abuse of unaccompanied migrant children in its custody.
Read the full op-ed here or below.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General found that the Biden-Harris administration cannot confirm the location, safety, or well-being of 323,000 unaccompanied migrant children released from government custody. A disturbing revelation, but the entire story is much worse.
Since this report only investigated DHS, it did not look into the systemic failures at the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is actively putting children into dangerous situations. ORR has the responsibility of caring for unaccompanied children and ensuring they are released to safe and thoroughly vetted sponsors. My years-long investigation into ORR found that Biden-Harris officials are prioritizing speed over safety when processing the thousands of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. They are even releasing these children to dangerous sponsors, including sexual predators and those with close ties to MS-13 gang members.
To shield the White House from the political embarrassment of processing facilities overrun with unaccompanied children crossing their open border, senior Biden-Harris officials directed ORR staff to expedite the process of releasing migrant children to outside sponsors. For example, the Biden-Harris administration, in some cases, removed requirements that ORR officials check if a sponsor has a criminal record or even verify that the sponsor’s identity is real. In another case, ORR neglected to verify whether the sponsor’s claimed address was even a real home, sending a child to an address that was nothing more than an open field.
Joe Biden and his border czar Kamala Harris are failing to manage the fallout from the crisis they created at the border.
When Biden took office, we had the lowest rates of illegal immigration in nearly 50 years. Almost immediately, Biden and Harris rushed to roll back the strong border policies inherited from President Trump. They ended “remain in Mexico,” reimposed “catch and release,” and exempted unaccompanied children from Title 42.
These open border policies encouraged the worst rates of illegal immigration ever recorded, including over 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children coming into the United States under this administration. In fact, the month after Biden and Harris exempted unaccompanied children from Title 42, there was the highest monthly total of these children crossing the southern border in history.
Many of these children are forced into dangerous working conditions and exploited for illegal labor. At one such facility, currently under investigation for child labor violations, a 16-year-old boy died when he was pulled into a meat-processing machine. Other children have been forced into drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and other criminal activity to pay off the cartels who brought them here — without any follow-up or oversight from the Biden-Harris administration.
These children do not have to suffer. It is unacceptable that Biden-Harris officials continue to put these children in dangerous environments. For the hundreds of thousands of children who are potentially missing because of this administration’s incompetence, they will continue to be exploited, abused, and killed at the hands of their captors.
The severe issues with ORR and the exploitation of children have been documented for years. Unaccompanied children are still coming over the border in record numbers. Yet, there has been no substantive effort by Biden or Harris to fix their open border policies or reform ORR to protect unaccompanied children from harm.
In fact, it was only when Biden was struggling in the polls against Trump that Democrats started to admit the border was an issue. Their solution: blame Republicans for the border crisis they created. Good luck trying to convince the American people.
It is clear Democrats do not treat the border or the exploitation of children as a serious problem that needs to be fixed, but a purely messaging issue they only need to “prioritize” in an election year. This is shameful.
Since Harris’ dramatic entrance into the presidential race, the liberal media has unsurprisingly refused to press Harris on anything, much less her border failures that have led to the exploitation of children.
Make no mistake, Harris is not an accomplice in the border mess, she is the perpetrator. At her White House coronation to be the border czar, Biden said Harris would lead the administration in “stemming the migration to our southern border,” and that “when she speaks, she speaks for me.” Less than four years later, it is clear she has failed not only the American people but the unaccompanied children who are being exploited and abused because of her willful incompetence.
The border crisis is Kamala Harris’ legacy. No media spin or rewriting of history will change that.
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