The Trump administration is scrutinizing the Biden administration's policies concerning unaccompanied migrant children, alleging severe safeguard failures.
The inquiry points to the possible endangerment of these children to labor and sexual exploitation due to allegedly flawed vetting processes, Breitbart reported.
Under President Biden's administration, the Department of Health and Human Services recorded the entry of about 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children into the U.S. Concerns have been raised by the Trump administration that these children, due to insufficient sponsorship vetting processes by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), might have been placed into harmful environments.
A lack of stringent checks allowed potentially hazardous sponsors to gain custody of these children. A significant focus of the allegations is on the procedures established under Biden, which the Trump administration claims prioritized expedience over the well-being of the children transferred from federal custody.
According to accusations from the Trump administration, the ORR's loose vetting facilitated fraudulent applications, significantly compromising child safety. A memo circulated within the Trump administration highlighted that key safety measures were notably absent, and fraudulent documents were often overlooked.
Instances were reported where a man presented a mismatched Guatemalan ID, yet it was accepted as valid verification for sponsorship. In another case, a faked photograph was used as proof of a relationship with a child—all under the watch of Biden's ORR.
Officials from the Trump administration have expressed that this oversight precipitated a crisis. “It was all about getting them out of custody as quickly as possible," an official explained. The focus on speed over security led to these critical lapses in vetting procedures.
In response to these findings, the Trump administration has embarked on a reform of the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program, originally initiated in 2008. The goal is to minimize the vulnerability of these children to trafficking and ensure their safe handling by tightening sponsorship requirements.
Further actions taken include an overhaul of the application rejection rates. Historical data from the New York Post indicated that the ORR under Biden had a rejection rate of only about one percent for sponsorship applications, starkly highlighting the laxity previously in place.
This sweeping reform aims not just to rectify the lax vetting but to establish a sturdy framework that ensures the safety and well-being of these children is prioritized over administrative convenience.
Despite reported instances of inadequate verification and fraud, there was reportedly little action taken by the then HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra's office to remedy the situation.
This has led to serious allegations of negligence by the Biden administration. "This was a heinous dereliction of duty by the Biden administration and must be immediately rectified to protect vulnerable children," a report from the Trump administration asserted.
These strong accusations underline the severity with which the Trump administration views the purported negligent practices of their predecessors and highlight the emphasis on revamping the existing protocols to better the conditions and safety measures for unaccompanied migrant children.
With the reforms currently being implemented, there is a robust effort to ensure that the missteps observed under Biden's stewardship are not repeated. Innovations in the vetting process, including better fingerprinting and identification of sponsors, are being advocated and rolled out.
