McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The federal agency that is responsible for placing unaccompanied migrant children with U.S. sponsors after they cross the border, failed to properly vet many of them in 2021, according to a new government report.
The 62-page report by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services found serious “gaps in sponsor screening and follow up,” which the watchdog agency said “raise safety concerns for unaccompanied children.”
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR,) which is under HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is responsible for the vetting and placement of unaccompanied minors who cross the border into the United States.
On Friday, there were over 8,400 children in HHS custody, with 312 discharged on Friday, according to the agency.
The OIG report studied 300 cases of children who crossed the U.S. border from Mexico without a parent or guardian in March and April 2021 and found:
16% of children’s case files lacked any documentation for required sponsor safety checks indicating vetting was done on U.S. sponsors.
19% of cases where children who were released to sponsors with pending FBI fingerprint or state child abuse or neglect registry checks did not have files updated with results.
35% of children’s case files contained legibility concerns with sponsor-submitted identification.
ORR failed to conduct mandatory home studies in two cases and there were serious concerns with screenings in four other cases, leading the IG report to ask whether home studies should offer more specificity.
In 5% of cases, ORR sponsor records were not updated with child welfare outcomes or sponsorship history.
In 33% of cases, ORR did not conduct safety and well-being follow-up calls.
In 18% of cases, follow-up calls were not documented in children’s case files.
“Thorough and efficient vetting of sponsors is essential to help protect the safety and well-being of unaccompanied children,” the report said.
This photo released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows inside an HHS facility at Tornillo, Texas. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services via AP, File)
The watchdog government agency cited instances in which HHS failed to show that basic safety checks were conducted on sponsors, such as verifying their address or running criminal background checks, before releasing minors to sponsors. It also found that legible photos and sponsors’ information were not documented, as required. Some photos were grainy, overly dark, blurry, or lacked state watermarks or other marks on the ID to verify its legitimacy.
The report screened a period in early 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and when HHS reported a shortage of staff and a limited number of beds at government-licensed detention facilities to house the children. Over 120,000 unaccompanied children were in HHS care in Fiscal Year 2021, according to the agency. That’s up from 20,000 in Fiscal Year 2020 under the Trump administration.
“Children who arrive in the United States unaccompanied are especially vulnerable to exploitation due to their age, separation from family, and hazardous journey to the United States. We acknowledge that ORR received a surge in referrals of unaccompanied children during our review period in 2021, that created operational constraints and hindered its ability to fulfill its mission. However, the number of unaccompanied children in ORR care has fluctuated widely over time, and ACF needs to be prepared to safely place children with sponsors in the event of future influxes,” the report concluded.
We acknowledge that ORR received a surge in referrals of unaccompanied children during our review period in 2021, that created operational constraints and hindered its ability to fulfill its mission.”
HHS OIG report: ‘Gaps in Sponsor Screening and Followup Raise Safety Concerns for Unaccompanied Children’
To improve procedures, the OIG report recommends that the agency:
Implement additional safeguards to ensure safety checks are completed and documented before releasing children to the care of a sponsor.
Develop a reference guide to help case managers better evaluate sponsors’ identity.
Take additional steps to ensure mandatory home studies are conducted.
Provide guidance to case managers on when to consider recommending discretionary home studies.
Ensure sponsors’ records are logged in digitally to the agency’s portal.
Monitor children after their release to sponsors.
“Protecting children must remain paramount,” said Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum said. “HHS and the Biden administration more broadly must take these findings seriously and do everything in their power to ensure that children are safe.”
“Congress should support these efforts not only by exercising oversight, but also by providing additional resources to ensure that agencies are adequately funded to screen sponsors and act in the best interest of children,” Murray said.
In the report, ACF said it “concurred” with all recommendations.
HHS has sent daily reports on unaccompanied children for most of the Biden administration, but announced the reports will no longer be sent starting March 1. The information can be found at this link.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
