Biden Admin Loses Contact With 85,000 Migrant Children

Originally published April 19, 2023 1:00 pm PDT

The Biden official could not provide an answer for the children’s whereabouts.

QUICK FACTS:
  • The “Oversight of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Unaccompanied Alien Children Program” hearing brought questions against the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement Robin Dunn Marcos over the whereabouts of migrant children.
  • The hearing drew upon a report from The New York Times that claimed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “could not reach more than 85,000 children” after calling them a month after they began “living with their sponsors.”
  • Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI) asked Marcos whether the number 85,000 was accurate, to which Marcos responded, “We do not track or monitor…” before Grothman interjected.
  • “The answer is no,” Grothman stated. “There are 85,000 kids who came across the border, we don’t know [where they are].”
  • “[The Office of Refugee Resettlement] works within the statutes and authorities and resources provided,” Marcos continued.
  • “Okay, well, we’ll take that to mean we don’t know where they are,” Grothman noted.
  • Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona (R) said to Marcos, “I think you’re telling us that you don’t disagree with the 85,000 number of children that we lost contact with. I’m not saying you lost them, I’m saying we lost contact with them. We don’t know where those kids are, is that fair to say?”
  • “Let’s just answer the direct question,” Biggs stated as Marcos avoided the representative’s inquiry. “When you made the call, you didn’t get a response–your letter tells me you usually make three calls, you got no response on any of those three calls, 85,000 kids. Is that right?”
  • “You didn’t have contact with more than 85,000 kids,” Biggs added as Marcos deflected. “Is that fair to say? Yes or no?”
  • Marcos could not provide an answer.
FURTHER QUESTIONING:
  • The hearing continued as Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) questioned Marcos on the legitimacy of HHS’s vetting process for those caring for unaccompanied minors.
  • After Gosar called the vetting process “inadequate,” Marcos declared, “Congressman, I respectfully do not believe that our current vetting is inadequate.”
  • Gosar continued, “Now, in theory, if [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] is doing the job and actually vetting sponsors, it will have a statistically significant rejection rate.”
  • Marcos was “not sure” what the rejection rate is.
  • “You knew you were coming into this hearing,” Gosar told Marcos. “You knew these numbers were going to be asked. This is inappropriate behavior of somebody of your caliber.”
  • “If you can’t have these numbers, you can’t make good policy,” Gosar added. “I find it a shame that you don’t have these numbers in front of you, and a shame for the people behind you for not having these numbers.”
BACKGROUND:
  • 180,000 migrants crossed the southern border in March 2023.
  • Over 162,000 migrants were apprehended throughout March, according to the latest data.
  • The number of migrant apprehensions jumped 25% from February 2023, up 434% from March 2020.

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