Senators seek information related to alleged “whistleblower chilling” by HHS against staff who reported concerns about the risk of labor exploitation and trafficking of unaccompanied children
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting information related to reports that HHS received warnings that unaccompanied children were being released from HHS custody into situations that presented a risk of labor exploitation and trafficking.
Rather than heeding these warnings, HHS allegedly engaged in retaliation against staff who reported concerns and created an environment that the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) described as “whistleblower chilling.”
In the letter, the Senators outline their oversight responsibilities to protect these children’s safety: “As Chairs of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, it is our responsibility to conduct oversight over implementation of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and ensure that HHS is meeting its legal obligations under that Act with respect to the care and protection of unaccompanied children.”
The Senators close their letter by outlining the vulnerability of our most recent arrivals, before outlining the information sought: “We also appreciate the challenges your agencies have faced at the border with the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border in recent years, as well as ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement]’s ongoing efforts to provide care and timely release for children in their custody. The Committee is tasked with ensuring that HHS is meeting its legal obligations to protect the safety and well-being of our most vulnerable recent arrivals. Oversight of the placement and care of unaccompanied children is particularly necessary today, as some states are loosening child labor laws and others are refusing to ensure that unaccompanied children have any mechanisms to report exploitation, abuse, or trafficking.”
The Senators’ letter concludes by asking for a series of documents and communications by July 20, 2023.
Earlier this month, Durbin held a committee hearing on ensuring the safety and well-being of unaccompanied children, while leadingoversight efforts to hold companies accountable for unlawfully employing migrant children. Additionally, Durbin and 16 Senate colleagues wroteto Secretary Becerra and then-Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh to request information on children’s placement with sponsors and investigations into child labor.
These efforts follow a bombshell New York Times reportin February detailing abuse and exploitation of migrant children, after which Durbin tookto the Senate floor to call on Congress to protect children from exploitation and fix our broken immigration system.
Full text of the letter to Secretary Becerra is available here or below.
June 29, 2023
The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Secretary of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20201
Dear Secretary Becerra:
As Chairs of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, respectively, it is our responsibility to conduct oversight on implementation of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) and ensure that HHS is meeting its legal obligations under that Act with respect to the care and protection of unaccompanied children. We appreciate the information the Committee received from the Department of Labor (DOL) and HHS in response to letters Chair Durbin led earlier this year[3] and the February 2023 reports in the New York Times regarding labor exploitation of unaccompanied noncitizen children.[4] Furthermore, we recognize the release of an audit report by HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) regarding sponsor vetting and placement processes in June 2023, along with the announcement of a new Program Accountability team to assess and address risks.[5]
We also appreciate the challenges your agency has faced at the border with the influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the border in recent years, as well as ORR’s ongoing efforts to provide care and timely release for children in their custody. The Committee is tasked with ensuring that HHS is meeting its legal obligations to protect the safety and well-being of our most vulnerable recent arrivals. Oversight of the placement and care of unaccompanied children is particularly necessary today, as some states are loosening child labor laws[6] and others are refusing to ensure that unaccompanied children have any mechanisms to report exploitation, abuse, or trafficking.[7] To aid this essential oversight, please provide the following by July 20, 2023.
Thank you for your urgent attention to these inquiries. We look forward to working with you to ensure child safety and uphold whistleblower attentions.
Sincerely,
/s/
-30-
[1] Hannah Dreier, As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings, New York Times (Apr. 17, 2023) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/us/politics/migrant-child-labor-biden.html.
[2] Operational Challenges Within ORR and the ORR Emergency Intake Site at Fort Bliss Hindered Case Management for Children, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Sep. 27, 2022) https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-07-21-00251.pdf.
[3] Letter to Secretaries Becerra and Walsh Requesting Information On Protecting Children From Exploitation (Mar. 3, 2023), https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-leads-colleagues-in-letter-to-hhs-dol-requestinginformation-on-protecting-children-from-exploitation.
[4] Hannah Dreier, Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., New York Times (Feb. 25, 2023) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html; Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler, Feds Expand Probe into Migrant Child Labor in Slaughterhouses, NBC News (Mar. 1, 2023), https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/feds-expand-probe-migrant-child-labor-slaughterhouses-rcna72930. See also Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services Announce New Efforts to Combat Exploitative Child Labor (Feb. 27, 2023), https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/02/27/departments-labor-and-health-and-human-services-announce-newefforts-combat-exploitative-child-labor.html; Memorandum of Agreement Between the United States Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Regarding Inter-Agency Data Sharing (Mar. 23, 2023) https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/main/23-MOA-096-between-DOL-WHD-and-HHS-ACF-Regarding-Inter-Agency-Data-Sharing-Agreement_0.pdf.
[5] In Newly Released Audit Report, HHS Announces New Accountability Team, Additional Efforts to Protect the Safety and Well-being of Unaccompanied Children (Jun. 2, 2023) https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/06/02/in-newly-released-audit-report-hhs-announces-new-accountability-team-additional-efforts-protect-safety-well-being-unaccompanied-children.html.
[6] Stephen Elliot, With Workers Scarce, Some States Seek to Loosen Child Labor Laws, PEW (Apr. 17, 2023), https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2023/04/17/with-workers-scarce-some-states-seek-to-loosen-child-labor-laws.
[7] Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Texas shelters housing migrant children to operate without state oversight, CBS News (Aug. 6, 2021), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-shelters-housing-migrant-children-to-operate-without-state-oversight/.
[8] Hannah Dreier, As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings, New York Times (Apr. 17, 2023) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/us/politics/migrant-child-labor-biden.html.
[9] Priscilla Alvarez, Key officials raised alarm about care of migrant children in government custody, CNN (Dec. 10, 2021) https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/10/politics/us-mexico-border-migrant-children/index.html.
[10] Hannah Dreier, As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Ignored Warnings, New York Times (Apr. 17, 2023) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/us/politics/migrant-child-labor-biden.html.
[11] Id.
[12] Pub. Law 110-457 (Dec. 23, 2008) William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, https://www.congress.gov/110/plaws/publ457/PLAW-110publ457.pdf.
[13] Operational Challenges Within ORR and the ORR Emergency Intake Site at Fort Bliss Hindered Case Management for Children U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Sep. 27, 2022) https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/OEI-07-21-00251.pdf.