We have a responsibility to protect these children from being preyed upon by criminals and human traffickers and the report released today shows its time to reform the screening and oversight process to guarantee their safety.
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) issued the following statement after the Senates Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations led by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) released a report outlining the inadequate screening process through which unaccompanied children are released to sponsors by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
The conditions many of these children experience at the hands of human smugglers and traffickers as they journey to the U.S. is heart-wrenching and todays report makes clear that sadly for some it doesnt end there.
I commend Senator Portman for working in a bipartisan way to shed light on an egregious failure by the Administration to ensure the safety of these young children in their custody.
We have a responsibility to protect these children from being preyed upon by criminals and human traffickers and the report released today shows its time to reform the screening and oversight process to guarantee their safety."
Sen. Cornyn has previously introduced the
Helping Unaccompanied Alien Minors and Alleviating National Emergency (HUMANE) legislation that would have reformed the system and ensured that unaccompanied children would never be released to sponsors without adequate criminal background checks. He also joined Sen. Charles Grassley Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in sending a
letter demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and HHS after a whistleblower alleged that at least 3400 sponsors out of a sample of 29000 listed in a government database have criminal histories that include domestic violence homicide child molestation sexual assault and human trafficking.
Senator John Cornyn a Republican from Texas is a member of the Senate Judiciary and Finance Committees.
