Trump official: Feds not responsible for migrant children released from US custody

Alan Gomez | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption U.S. Steps Up Unaccompanied Minor Deportations The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up efforts to find and deport immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally as unaccompanied children or as families and have been ordered out of the U.S. by a judge. (March 18)

A senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services told a Senate panel on Thursday that the responsibility to monitor migrant children released from federal custody falls on state child welfare agencies – not the federal government.

Jonathan White, who handles the care of minor children for HHS, said federal law requires his department to properly care for those unaccompanied minors while they're in HHS custody. When releasing the children, the department must also carefully vet parents, relatives and other sponsors to verify their relationship and ensure they don't pose a threat to the child.

But White said the department's legal responsibility ends there. If any harm comes to the child after being released to a sponsor, he said there is no federal law that requires his agency to follow up.

"The custodial relationship does end when those children exit (the Office of Refugee Resettlement)," said White, referring to the HHS office that oversees migrant children in its custody. "We are not a law enforcement agency."

That answer angered a bipartisan group of senators who issued a report on Wednesday highlighting what they described as glaring flaws in the treatment and oversight of children released from HHS custody.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the federal government is "failing in our responsibility" to protect minors. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said she was "frustrated" and "sickened" by the administration's "see no evil" approach to the treatment of children released from custody.

And Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, became increasingly upset as representatives of four different government agencies explained how they were not responsible for the care of those children.

"That's the whole point here," Portman said. "No one's responsible."

More: Senate investigators say feds fail to keep tabs on immigrant children released from custody

Under federal law, the thousands of children who cross the southwest border without a sponsor, known as unaccompanied minors, are first detained by immigration enforcement agents. The Trump administration added an additional 2,500 children to that group this year when it implemented a "zero tolerance" immigration enforcement policy that separated families who crossed the border together, then treating the children as unaccompanied minors.

Federal law limits how long children can remain in detention, so those children are quickly handed over to HHS. That department contracts with local shelters to house, feed, provide medical treatment, and educate those children.

HHS then performs extensive checks of possible sponsors for the children, running background checks, and conducting home visits in cases where the child may be the victim of human smuggling or requires special medical needs.

Thursday's hearing highlighted a heated disagreement over what should happen next.

Trump administration officials said federal law allow them to provide some post-release services, such as mental health counseling, guidance on upcoming immigration court hearings, and follow-up phone calls to make sure that children are being well taken care of. But White made clear that there's no legal requirement, on the part of HHS or the new sponsor, to complete those phone calls and verify the safety of the child.

That answer infuriated several senators. Portman said the law that governs treatment of unaccompanied minors — the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 — clearly gives HHS broad responsibilities to care for all unaccompanied children, before and after their time in government custody.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., compared the situation to state oversight of foster care programs. She said social workers in her state routinely check on the well-being of children placed in foster care or with other sponsors through in-person visits, and by checking with school systems and other local agencies.

"There is a huge network in every single state," she said. "Because you know what states do? They take their responsibility for having children in their care seriously."

McCaskill said the problems raised during Thursday's hearing will likely lead to a "something remarkable" – a bipartisan bill to fix the system.

The Senate Department of Homeland Security and Governmental Affair’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation has been looking into the treatment of unaccompanied children in government custody since 2015, when federal authorities exposed a labor trafficking scheme at an egg farm in Marion, Ohio. Nearly a dozen teenagers and young adults were essentially working as slave laborers. The workers — from Guatemala and as young as 14 — were forced to work long hours and housed in trailers with no heat, hot water, or working toilets.

After news broke about the trafficking in his state, Portman launched the first probe with McCaskill, who was then the subcommittee's top Democrat.

The first investigation concluded HHS did not conduct proper background checks, perform regular home visits or take other basic steps to ensure that vulnerable children were placed into the care of appropriate sponsors.

According to the subcommittee's second report, released Wednesday, HHS attempted to follow up with 7,635 children, 30 days after they were placed with their sponsors, and found they were "unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475" of them; 28 had flat-out "run away."

HHS, DHS and the Department of Justice issued a joint statement Wednesday night, blasting the report's authors. The report "demonstrates fundamental misunderstandings of law and policy," the joint statement read. The government agencies said they alerted investigators to errors in the report but authors "chose to ignore many operational realities and basic legal authorities (or lack thereof) including the lack of HHS authority to care for (unaccompanied minors) after release to a suitable vetted sponsor."

Contributing: Eliza Collins in Washington