Washington, D.C. – Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX) sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) Acting Director Andrea Chapman expressing his concern with the report of missing unaccompanied alien children (UACs) in a recent article published by Reuters.
In the letter he wrote: “In 2014, a surge of UACs crossed the southern border without documentation and overwhelmed border officials. Following the oversight of this surge by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, of which am a senior member, conditions and care greatly improved for UACs, until January 2021. Now conditions at the border are worse than ever before. It has never been like this. This fact is confirmed by the recent reports of about a dozen UACs missing in Houston, adding to the approximately 60 UACs reported missing in Houston since late last year.
“Today, we are witnessing many of the same abuses that occurred in 2014. These patterns have been brought to light by the Houston police chief after noticing an increase in missing UACs from the homes of their U.S. sponsors. Of even greater concern, dozens of these children have been released to similar addresses. This raises serious questions about the possibility of children being placed in an exploitative situation. I am not certain that releasing UACs to non-parent sponsors complies with current law.”
Burgess is seeking answers to the following questions:
What policies have contributed to this distressing rise in missing unaccompanied alien children and what is being done to correct this situation?
Of the about 60 cases in Houston that have been subject to additional review, how many have now been cleared?
a. How many children are still missing?
What can be done to ensure ORR cross references the addresses where UACs are being sent in the future?
Has this emergency review found any evidence of UACs being sex trafficked?
What assurances can you give that this same problem is not more widespread?
His letter has already received coverage for this latest effort by the Washington Times.
