HHS Official Can’t Say When Hill Will be Briefed on Unaccompanied Children Program

Unaccompanied minors wait for their turn at the secondary processing station inside a holding facility in Donna, Texas, on March 30, 2021. Dario Lopez-Mills/Pool/AP Photo

A senior Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) executive was unable to tell a congressional oversight subcommittee when a briefing requested four months ago will be scheduled on how the government processes placement of unaccompanied minors who cross into the U.S. at the Southern border.

“On March 2, 2023, the [House Judiciary] Committee requested a general briefing on the Unaccompanied Children (UAC) placement process or a demonstration of the UAC portal. It has been over four months, and we have not yet received the briefing on the UAC or the demonstration of the portal,” Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) told HHS Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Melanie Egorin.

The exchange came during the July 18 hearing of the judiciary panel’s Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight concerning the Biden administration’s responses to congressional requests and subpoenas for information and documents. Also testifying during the hearing was Naz Durakoglu, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs.

“Can you tell us on what timeline could we schedule that briefing? When can we expect that to actually occur,” Ms. Lee continued in her questioning of Ms. Egorin.

“Congresswoman, I will when I go back to my office, I will have my staff reach out to your office to start working through a process on that issue,” Ms. Egorin responded.

A spokesman for HHS told The Epoch Times that “HHS repeatedly offers to hold a briefing, including in a letter to the Committee on April 28, 2023. The committee never responded to schedule. HHS continues to stand by for their response.”

Minors who tested positive for COVID-19 sit in the ground at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, (CBP), in Donna, Texas,  on March 30, 2021. AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool

Unanswered Questions

The Florida Republican also asked Ms. Egorin about the inability during a May transcribed interview with committee investigators of Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Director Robin Dunn Marcos to answer multiple questions about how her staff handles UAC. The questions covered topics such as whether and how prospective sponsors for such children are screened by HHS officials to ensure that no child traffickers or sex offenders are given custody.

“Dunn Marcos was unable to provide information or answer a series of questions asked during a transcribed interview with the committee—about 30 questions she was not able to answer,” Ms. Lee told Ms. Egorin. “For example, she couldn’t answer questions about whether the office she leads has a policy to refer known gang members to the Department of Justice.

“She also wasn’t sure during that interview whether, during her tenure, HHS had ever transferred a child to a home where a registered sex offender lives, among other questions. We are also interested in how many unaccompanied alien children we have lost track of during this [Biden] administration.”

Ms. Lee told Ms. Egorin that, while Ms. Dunn Marcos promised during the interview to provide answers subsequently, the committee is still waiting to receive them.

“Congresswoman, at this moment, I am unaware of where we are in terms of a timeline,” Ms. Egorin said. “I am happy to have my staff work with your staff and provide an update.”

Government data shows that more than 128,000 UACs were referred to HHS in 2022. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) claims it is difficult to determine with confidence the actual number of UACs in the United States because immigration court judges dismiss thousands of such cases.

Democrats on the subcommittee questioned the need for the hearing, which was the fourth it has held in 2023, to examine how Biden administration officials are responding to congressional oversight requests.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) speaks during a meeting in Washington on June 17, 2020. Kevin Dietsch/Pool/Getty Images

“I think that a lot of the questions that have been posed, they sound like scheduling issues to me, frankly. When can we get this, when can we get that, when can my staff meet with your folks over there. I really don’t think we need to be spending hearing time to do this,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told the hearing.

Ivey noted that he had to miss another “more substantive” hearing in another subcommittee in order to attend the compliance panel hearing.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) condemned the hearing because “we’re approaching 500 days since [Judiciary Committee] Chairman [Jim] Jordan [(R-Ohio)] has failed to comply with a lawfully issued subpoena for the greatest crime ever committed in America ... ”

The California Democrat was referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach and a subpoena issued to Jordan by the intensely partisan select committee appointed by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to investigate. Mr. Jordan argued the subpoena was unconstitutional and part of a political vendetta.

Asked about Ms. Egorin’s response to Ms. Lee, a spokesman for the judiciary panel’s Republican majority told The Epoch Times, “It’s ridiculous and shows that the Biden administration is either scared of legitimate congressional oversight or bad at governing.”

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) closed the hearing by noting that Mr. Jordan told FBI Director Christopher Wray that the bureau’s failure to respond properly to committee oversight requests “was not acceptable and that we are done waiting, and that this committee is going to be taking action against him and those who continue to delay and obfuscate and refuse to provide information.”

Cline then told Ms. Egorin and Ms. Durakoglu that “we look forward to, hopefully, getting information from the both of you, and we look forward to, hopefully, not having to take further action toward production of those documents.” Cline was referring to the possibility that the judiciary panel could issue a subpoena to officials at HHS and the State Department if requested documents and information are not forthcoming.