[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 170 (Wednesday, November 18, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H8285-H8286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SYRIAN REFUGEES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 minutes.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the issue of the
Syrian refugees and the Islamic State terrorists who are coming across
our southern border and, in relation to this, the Office of Refugee
Resettlement loophole that exists there.
Also, Mr. Speaker, as I begin my remarks, I commend the House and our
Speaker for speaking out and taking an action to condemn the Paris
attacks.
This administration has announced its intention to resettle 10,000
Syrian refugees within the United States in fiscal year 2016. Now, I
want you to think about that number, 10,000 in the year 2016. They will
go to resettlement communities all across the country, if the
administration has its way.
It is important to note that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or
the ORR as it is called, does not simply resettle refugees from
overseas. In fact, the ORR has been resettling thousands of illegal
aliens that are coming across our southern border.
I want to read to you from their 2013 report to Congress:
``Other Categories Eligible for Assistance and Services.
[[Page H8286]]
``Certain other persons admitted to the U.S. or granted status under
other immigration categories also are eligible for refugee benefits.''
In addition, certain persons deemed to be victims of a severe form of
trafficking, though not legally admitted as refugees, are eligible for
ORR benefits to the same extent as refugees.
That is correct; the ORR resettles illegal aliens not classified as
refugees, providing another potential gateway for the Islamic State
terrorists.
Frankly, we would know more about the ORR activities if they filed
their annual reports, as required in section 413(a) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act, and did it in a timely fashion. The last report we
have from them is 2013. It is not transparent, it is not accountable,
and it cannot be trusted.
I know this firsthand, Mr. Speaker. I wrote Secretary Burwell twice
last year about resettlement activities at the ORR and have been
investigating them since July 2014, when Congressman Bridenstine and I
traveled to a UAC facility at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record those letters to Secretary
Burwell.
Congress of the United States,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, November 21, 2014.
Hon. Sylvia M. Burwell,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary Burwell: It has come to my attention that
you have failed to submit an annual report to Congress
regarding the activities of the Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) since Fiscal Year 2012. The Secretary is
required by law to submit an annual report pursuant to
Section 413(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ``no
later than the January 31 following the end of each fiscal
year, . . .'' Reports had been filed annually since 1980
before abruptly stopping after the FY2012 submission.
It is important that ORR operate transparently given its
role in re-settling thousands of illegal aliens who crossed
our Southern border last summer. ORR has released more than
45,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) into our country to
adult sponsors through September 30th of this year. My home
state of Tennessee has had over 1,000 UACs released within
its borders alone. I expect a thorough update on these
activities.
I would also note that ORR's budget appears to have grown
exponentially. ORR received over $750,000,000 million in
funding in FY2012. However, HHS requested almost $1.5 billion
for ORR in its FY2015 ``Justification of Estimates for
Appropriations Committees''. Without annual reports being
provided to Congress as part of the oversight process, it
becomes increasingly difficult to approve requested funding.
I look forward to your immediate submission of ORR's FY2013
report to Congress. Also, I expect ORR's FY2014 report no
later than January 31, 2015, as required by law.
Sincerely,
Marsha Blackburn,
Member of Congress.
____
Congress of the United States,
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC, December 17, 2014.
Hon. Sylvia M. Burwell,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Washington, DC.
Dear Secretary Burwell: An article titled ``Crossing alone:
Children fleeing to U.S. land in shadowy system'' was
published in the Houston Chronicle on May 24th, 2014. The
Chronicle's investigation revealed that over one-hundred
``significant incident reports'' were obtained from the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through a
Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) and detailed
instances where children were abused by Office of Refugee
Resettlement (ORR) staff members between March 2011 and March
2013. The article contains several troubling statements:
1) ``No shelter worker has been prosecuted under a 2008
federal provision that makes sexual contact with a detainee
in ORR's care a felony.''
2) ``Youths in ORR custody in Texas were molested as they
slept, sexually harassed and seduced by staff members during
the past decade, records from state childcare licensing
investigators and law enforcement show. They were shoved,
kicked, punched and threatened with deportation if they
reported abuses, investigators found.''
3) ``The Office of Refugee Resettlement relies on state
childcare licensing and local police to investigate abuses of
the children in its care, instead of notifying the FBI of
serious allegations. In the hands of local police and
prosecutors, criminal cases have crumbled because of sloppy
detective work, communication gaps with officials and
jurisdiction confusion.''
On May 17, 2012 the President issued a memorandum regarding
implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003
(PREA). The memo stated that ``Each agency is responsible
for, and must be accountable for, the operations of its own
confinement facilities, and each agency has extensive
expertise regarding its own facilities, particularly those
housing unique populations.''
On March 7, 2013 the President signed the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA) into law. Section 1101 of VAWA amended PREA
as follows: ``Not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act
of 2013, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
publish a final rule adopting national standards for the
detection, prevention, reduction and punishment of rape and
sexual assault in facilities that maintain custody of
unaccompanied alien children.''
According to the Chronicle's investigation and a letter you
received from fifty-nine House Democrats this week, your
department has still not published a final rule. This delay
directly violates Section 1101 of VAWA. Your failure to act
timely is unacceptable given the seriousness of these issues.
As a result, please provide responses and document
production, as requested, relating to the following
inquiries:
1) Has HHS published a final rule adopting final standards
for the detection, prevention, reduction and punishment of
rape and sexual assault in facilities that maintain custody
of unaccompanied children? If so, when did this occur?
2) Please explain why HHS delayed, or continues to delay,
publishing a final rule, as required by law.
3) In FY2014, ORR released 53,518 unaccompanied alien
children to sponsors within the United States. Please produce
any significant incident reports filed by, or on behalf of,
unaccompanied alien children against ORR employees in FY2014,
regardless of the format in which they are stored. If you
redact information, or are unable to produce said reports,
outline any legal privileges or exemptions the department is
relying upon.
4) Please disclose the number of ORR employees currently
being investigated by law enforcement for sexual misconduct
or abuse involving unaccompanied alien children.
5) Please disclose the number of ORR employees disciplined
or investigated by HHS for sexual misconduct or abuse of
unaccompanied alien children in FY2014.
6) What efforts has ORR undertaken to work with federal law
enforcement to prosecute employees accused of child abuse
within its facilities since 2011?
7) What initiatives has ORR undertaken on its own to
protect children from abuse within its facilities since 2011?
Please include any internal rules or memorandums that were
drafted to address this issue.
ORR's failure to timely comply with the law is unacceptable
and not in keeping with the Administration's pledges of
transparency. Please provide responses to the above
inquiries, along with requested documentation, within fifteen
days of receipt of this correspondence.
Sincerely,
Marsha Blackburn,
Member of Congress.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. We know that there are more than Mexicans and Central
Americans coming across that southern border, and we know that once
they are here, the ORR has no way of tracking them and keeping up with
them.
In April, a Judicial Watch report cited a Mexican army officer and
police inspector who advised that ISIS was operating training bases in
close proximity to the U.S. southern border. Another report from August
2014 advised that social media traffic indicated ISIS was planning to
infiltrate the southern border in order to carry out a terrorist
attack.
Due to these findings, all of our resettlement services must be
temporarily suspended. I am currently working on a solution with
several of my colleagues to address the loophole that allows
nonrefugees to be resettled.
In the past 3 weeks, Islamic State terrorists have bombed a Russian
jetliner, committed suicide bombings in Beirut, and massacred French
citizens in Paris. They are now exporting their terror. There is simply
no method that will allow us to determine with 100 percent accuracy
whether Syrians or illegal aliens that we resettle into the U.S. are
really ISIS jihadists.
Mr. Speaker, is the ISIS threat contained? No.
Can we guarantee that Syrian refugees who are resettled into the U.S.
will not commit acts of terror against Americans? No.
Do we know who these people are? No.
Are they properly vetted? No.
Would it be responsible to bring Syrian refugees into this country
after the attacks in Paris? No.
Do Americans across this country want the administration to resettle
Syrian refugees into the U.S.? No.
Is the administration dangerously naive on this policy? Absolutely.
I encourage my colleagues to look closely at the issue.
____________________