HHS doesn’t request background checks for juvenile illegal immigrants, says Biden admin official: Report
The Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services does not request the criminal records of illegal immigrants under 18 years old, according to testimony provided by a senior HHS official, the New York Post recently reported.
Last June, Robin Dunn Marcos, an HHS official, told the House Judiciary Committee that the department does not request complete background check information for unaccompanied alien children. She testified that the HHS does contact the juvenile’s home consulate or embassy to request some information.
‘These policies have incentivized criminals.’
Marcos is the deputy assistant secretary for humanitarian services and the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Administration for Children and Families at HHS.
A House Judiciary Committee member told Marcos, “Earlier you mentioned that [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] contacts the UAC consulate and the UAC’s home country to verify date of birth, birth certificate of the UAC, and whether the UAC is suspected of being an adult in those types of contexts.”
“What else does ORR verify with consulates? What other type of information?” the committee member asked.
In testimony obtained by the Post, Marcos responded, “I believe that it is birth certificates and identity documents.”
When asked whether HHS requests “the criminal record in the home country from the consulate,” Marcos responded, “We do not.”
Unaccompanied children, which includes those under the age of 18, are transferred to the ORR’s custody. The department is responsible for providing the minor with food, shelter, and medical care. The ORR is also tasked with finding a sponsor to care for the child while they are in the U.S.
The department has been repeatedly criticized for its handling of the illegal immigration crisis, particularly regarding how it selects sponsors for minors. The HHS has been accused of having a “culture of speed over safety.”
HHS whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas claimed that the department “lost immediate contact” with 85,000 unaccompanied alien children after placing them with sponsors. She stated that some of the so-called vetted sponsors are “criminals and traffickers and members of Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
As of fiscal year 2023, of the lost children, 70% were age 15 or older, the Post reported. Most of the juveniles were boys, it noted.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement issued a report on Monday that accused HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra of creating a “toxic situation” that endangers Americans and UACs.
“As the Committee and Subcommittee’s oversight has shown, these policies have incentivized criminals, such as the MS-13-affiliated illegal alien who murdered Kayla Hamilton, to come to the southwest border, knowing they very likely will be released into the interior of the country. Tragically, the Biden Administration has failed to engage in necessary diligence in the case of the UAC that murdered Kayla Hamilton, instead doubling down on the very policies that enabled her murderer to roam free,” the report read.
Hamilton, 20, was raped and killed by a 17-year-old MS-13 gang member who was allowed into the U.S. by DHS and placed in the custody of a sponsor. The suspect was previously arrested in his home country of El Salvador for his association with the gang. This information was only verified after Hamilton’s murder, the committee’s report noted.
When unlawfully crossing the border, some adult illegal aliens pose as children.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, previously told Blaze News, “You’d be amazed how many are ’17’ when apprehended. With no verified ID, and with DHS having deliberately abandoned DNA testing and not doing bone-density or other methods, there is no way to be sure. This is a great way for transnational criminal organizations (gangs) like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to bring in members.”
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