Senator Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who left the Democratic Party last week to become an independent, is leading 45 of his Republican Senate colleagues in a resolution to repeal a Biden administration rule to care for unaccompanied migrant children.
“We have a crisis at our southern border and its human impact is absolutely devastating. I have repeatedly called on President Biden to use his executive powers to end this crisis and break the cycles of exploitation enabled by illegal immigration. Instead, the administration allows rules like this one that endanger the safety of migrant children and put them in the hands of unvetted sponsors,” Manchin said in a statement.
Manchin says the rule issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would allow for lax or optional background checks on children’s sponsors and that a sponsor’s criminal history, including substance abuse, abuse or neglect, would not necessarily be considered a disqualifying reason for concerns about the child’s welfare.
Manchin’s office said the administration’s fresh rule would no longer require sponsors to disclose their immigration status to law enforcement and would establish “weak standards” for post-release home visits to determine the well-being of the migrant child while in the sponsor’s care.
Manchin also opposes restrictions on whistleblowers’ right to disclose information about misconduct under the program to Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General.
When immigration authorities detain a child who comes into the country without a parent or guardian, they hand them over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they are released to a sponsor, usually a family member, to await legal proceedings, according to HHS.
Sponsors must be deemed suitable to look after the welfare of a child, and all sponsors must pass a background check.
In Announcement of the rule in AprilHHS officials hailed it as an improvement over the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement because it sets improved standards for the placement and release of unaccompanied children, emergency and influx operations, transportation and monitoring requirements.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said it “underscores HHS’s unwavering commitment to the health, safety and well-being of unaccompanied children in our care.”
“By improving the legal framework for the UC program, we are setting clear standards for the care and treatment of unaccompanied children in ORR’s care and for the support they receive in their integration into new communities,” he added.
Manchin can refer the resolution to the Congressional Review Act and force a vote regardless of his colleagues’ objections. Blocking it is not possible.
To repeal the administration’s fresh rule, the resolution would have to be passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by the president.
