Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who last week left the Democratic Party to become an independent, is leading 45 of his Senate Republican colleagues in a resolution to overturn a Biden administration rule on the care of unaccompanied migrant children.
“We have a crisis on our southern border and its human impacts are absolutely devastating. I have repeatedly called on President Biden to use his executive powers to end it and address the cycles of exploitation that illegal immigration enables. Rules like this put the safety of migrant children at risk and entrust them to the hands of unvetted sponsors,” Manchin said in a statement.
Manchin says the rule put forward by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would allow for lax or optional vetting of sponsors for children and would not require that a sponsor’s criminal history, including drug abuse, misuse or neglect, be considered as necessarily dismissing concerns about child welfare.
Manchin’s office said the administration’s new rule would not require a sponsor to share their immigration status with authorities and would implement “weak standards” for post-release home studies to determine a migrant child’s well-being while under sponsor’s custody.
Manchin also opposes restrictions on whistleblowers’ rights to disclose to Congress and the Health and Human Services inspectorate general information about misconduct in the program.
When immigration authorities apprehend a child entering the country without a parent or legal guardian, they transfer the child to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement until the child is released to a sponsor, who is usually a family member, to wait for the court. processes, according to HHS.
Sponsors must be deemed suitable to ensure the well-being of the child and all sponsors must undergo background checks.
In announcing the rule in AprilHHS officials praised it as an improvement over the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, establishing improved standards for the placement and release of unaccompanied children, emergency and influx operations, transportation, and monitoring requirements.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said this “underscores HHS’s unwavering commitment to the health, safety, and well-being of unaccompanied children in our care.”
“By improving the legal framework governing the UC Program, we establish clear standards for the care and treatment of unaccompanied children in ORR custody and the support they receive as they transition to new communities,” he added.
Manchin could take the resolution to the Congressional Review Act and force a vote regardless of colleagues’ objections. It cannot be obstructed.
The resolution would need to be approved by the Senate and the House and signed by the president to overturn the government’s new rule.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
