[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2334-S2336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BORDER SECURITY

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, since the President of the United States, 
President Biden, took office, America's southern border has faced 
unprecedented challenges. Unfortunately, none of these struggles seems 
to have captured President Biden's attention--not the 5.4 million 
border crossings or the more than 1.5 million ``got-aways''; not the 
1.6 million pounds of illicit drugs that were seized by Border Patrol, 
the 108,000 Americans who died last year from drug overdoses; not the 
tractor/trailers filled with the bodies of dead migrants or city 
sidewalks lined with people who have nowhere to go; not even the fact 
that the cartels are making a fortune off the backs of vulnerable 
migrants and fueling America's drug crisis.
  The American people have been stunned by the scope and the scale of 
President Biden's border crisis--and I call it that because it is a 
result of his policies. But it has been going on for 2\1/2\ years now, 
and the Biden administration doesn't seem to care. The administration 
has tried to deflect, distract, even deceive the American people into 
thinking things are just not that bad or maybe they could be worse. But 
the spin doctors can only accomplish so much. We have continued to 
learn about the many ways the Biden administration has fumbled its 
mission at the southern border. And the consequences have been 
absolutely devastating.
  Reporting from the New York Times earlier this year looked at what 
has happened to unaccompanied migrant children once they arrive into 
the United States. Since President Biden took office, 300,000--
300,000--unaccompanied children have arrived at the border. To be 
clear, these children did not cross the border with their parents, but 
they did get some help--mainly the coyotes or the human smugglers who, 
for a fee, will smuggle people into the United States. But these 
children, as we might expect, are particularly vulnerable as they make 
this dangerous journey north in the custody of these criminal 
organizations.
  The sad reality is that many come to the United States in the care of 
these criminals, and parents who paid smugglers thousands of dollars to 
bring their children into the United States are taking an incredible 
risk with their children. We know this journey is not safe, and it is 
not easy. Many children are subjected to violence, exploitation, even 
sexual abuse at the hands of these criminal smugglers. Many, as you 
might expect, arrive in the United States traumatized and in poor 
physical health.
  Now, you would think that once these children have made this 
dangerous journey across the southern border and they are taken from 
the custody of the cartels to that of the U.S. Government, that they 
would be safe. Unfortunately, we know that is not the case.
  Of the more than 300,000 migrant children who arrived in the United 
States on President Biden's watch, roughly 85,000 could not be 
accounted for 30 days after they were placed with a sponsor.
  Just to be clear, the process is, the Border Patrol receives these 
unaccompanied children and has a responsibility to turn them over to 
Health and Human Services and the Office of Refugee Relocation, or ORR, 
who then proceeds to identify a sponsor in the United States where this 
child may be sent to await an asylum hearing that will likely never 
occur. But the problem is not just that this asylum hearing will not 
likely ever be held, it is that these children may never be heard from 
again as far as the Federal Government is concerned.

[[Page S2335]]

  So the practice is, 30 days after the children are placed with 
sponsors, the Federal Agency in charge is supposed to make a call, a 
wellness call, to see how the child is doing. But as this chart 
indicates, one out of three--in one out of three of these cases, there 
is no answer. Nobody responds.
  And that is the last contact or attempted contact the Biden 
administration would have with these children or their sponsors, 
because beyond that, they would say: Our job is done. It is up to the 
child protective services agencies in the various States to take care 
of these children. But we know they are already overwhelmed with foster 
children and others just coming from the United States, much less 
adding another 300,000 to that list.
  So, of the 300,000 migrant children placed by this administration, 
there are 85,000 cases where the child and the sponsor have never been 
heard from again.
  We don't know where these children are. The Biden administration 
doesn't know where they are. We don't know whether they are being fed. 
We don't know whether they are going to school. We don't know whether 
they are being recruited into gangs. We don't know whether they are 
being abused or neglected or sexually exploited, and the Biden 
administration is fine with that because they don't care. I know that 
may sound harsh, but the fact is, if they did care, they could fix it, 
but they refuse to do so. The Biden administration has no idea what has 
happened to these migrant children. It has effectively abandoned them.
  Well, the obvious question is, How did this happen? Aren't there 
policies in place that are designed to prevent this from happening? In 
short, the answer is yes, there are, but nearly all of those guidelines 
are set by the Agencies involved, not by Congress.
  The Biden administration has full discretion to change its policies 
regarding the placement of migrant children. They don't need to wait on 
Congress to tell them; they can do it themselves. They have the ability 
to determine who can actually sponsor these children and the sort of 
vetting or background checks that would be necessary for the sponsors 
to pass. They have the ability to set guidelines for followup calls and 
wellness visits and other services that would ensure that these 
children are not being exploited and that they are not being neglected. 
The Biden administration has the complete authority to remove children 
from the custody of a sponsor if the sponsor refuses to cooperate or 
presents any sort of risk to the child.
  In other words, the Biden administration made 85,000 phone calls to 
sponsors with children they had placed with those sponsors. There was 
no answer, and the sponsors cut off contact with the Agency. The Biden 
administration could go and take those children away from the sponsors 
because they have violated their agreements to cooperate with the U.S. 
Government. Well, they haven't done that.
  The short answer is, the Biden administration could do as much or as 
little as it wants to protect these vulnerable children. Clearly it has 
made the decision to do as little as possible to protect them.
  Unsurprisingly, the administration's negligence has led to the 
widespread mistreatment of migrant children. The New York Times has 
documented story after story of young people who are working in 
dangerous jobs in violation of State child labor laws--of children 
working in meat processing plants, on construction sites, in factories, 
and doing other dangerous jobs that are meant for adults, not children. 
These children obviously aren't going to school. They are not 
furthering their education. They are being forced into labor in 
violation of State child labor laws. The New York Times has documented 
it.
  We also know from the New York Times' investigative stories that the 
Health and Human Services Department--the Agency responsible for this 
program--has received warning after warning that these children are at 
risk. These warnings have come through government staffers, outside 
contractors, and the Department's own hotline. Not only were 
whistleblowers ignored, but many were silenced. They were pushed out of 
their jobs. Some were retaliated against for trying to protect these 
vulnerable migrant children.
  Yes, once again, the Biden administration was well aware of this. 
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra knew about credible 
reports about trafficking and abuse, but he continued to push for the 
speedy placement of migrants with sponsors with little regard for the 
dangers that created.
  In other words, when the Biden administration had a public relations 
problem--when we saw the crush of humanity at the border--their first 
reaction was, let's move these migrants out of the border region as 
fast as we can, and our public relations problem will go away.
  So rather than making sure these children were protected, they 
actually relaxed the vetting requirement for the sponsors. They haven't 
even gone so far as to require background checks, criminal background 
checks or otherwise, of other people living in the same households as 
these children. They may have checked the sponsor himself or herself, 
but if a house is full of other people, they need to check everybody in 
the household to make sure they are not registered sex offenders or 
that they don't have backgrounds of abusing or neglecting children or 
otherwise. To solve the administration's public relations problem, they 
just decided to move these kids through the system as fast as possible 
and then wash their hands.
  Then-Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was well aware of this situation. 
Last year, the Department's investigators identified major instances of 
child labor violations that took place in auto part factories and 
meatpacking plants, and all of this information was made available to 
the White House.
  Until recently, Susan Rice served as the Director of the White 
House's Domestic Policy Council. Her job required her to oversee 
virtually every aspect of domestic policy matters, including the 
placement of migrant children. Both Health and Human Services and the 
Labor Department shared concerns about labor trafficking and child 
labor violations, but those reports were either ignored by the White 
House or were intentionally swept under the rug.
  The Biden administration knew that countless numbers of migrant 
children were in danger, but it did absolutely nothing. The 
administration didn't just turn a blind eye; it intentionally tried to 
cover up the widespread exploitation of migrant children. It is a 
coverup.
  In the wake of these damning reports, I wrote a letter to Chairman 
Durbin of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was cosigned by every 
Republican member of that committee, and we asked for a hearing on this 
matter. We urged him to invite Biden administration leaders who failed 
to act on these warnings to testify in person in front of the 
committee, under oath. That included Secretary Becerra, former Labor 
Secretary Walsh, and former White House adviser Susan Rice.
  The chairman scheduled a hearing last month, but none--none--of these 
officials bothered to show up, further indicating that they simply 
don't care. In fact, this so-called oversight hearing did not include a 
single Biden administration witness. How do you hold people accountable 
for their negligence or their intentional acts that harm innocent, 
vulnerable children if they can't be held accountable to show up for a 
hearing and testify, if they are proud of what they did, to the 
committee and the American people about what they did to protect these 
vulnerable children? But they didn't bother to show up, indicating once 
again that they simply don't care.
  Now, after we pointed out to the chairman that the Biden 
administration's witnesses were no-shows, he promised to hold a 
followup hearing to make sure the Biden administration's witnesses 
appeared. I intend to hold him to that promise, and I look forward to 
the opportunity. I actually said: ``Thank you very much for doing 
that.'' He didn't have to do that, but I think Chairman Durbin 
understands that this is the right thing to do. So I appreciate his 
willingness to hold a followup hearing with the Biden administration's 
witnesses, and I look forward to the opportunity to ask those officials 
who are charged with the care and custody of these vulnerable children 
why they have shirked their responsibilities.

[[Page S2336]]

  Now, the Biden administration may be fine with abandoning migrant 
children in order to avoid a bad news cycle, but I am not, and I think 
all fairminded Members of the Senate and the Congress are not.
  I really question whether people are aware of what the situation is, 
which is why I am here on the floor of the Senate today to talk about 
it. I hope that once they become aware, they will become like me--
concerned that something has to change, that people need to be held 
accountable, and that these children need to be protected.
  If you were an American citizen and you treated an American citizen 
child like the Biden administration has treated these migrant children 
from other countries, you would be charged and convicted of the 
reckless endangerment of a child or of human trafficking. In other 
words, you would go to jail or prison if you treated an American 
citizen child this way. So how is it the Biden administration gets off 
with treating these migrant children with any less dignity and safety?
  Well, in light of all of this reporting in the New York Times and 
elsewhere, we need answers, we need accountability, and we need policy 
changes to ensure that these practices come to an end. The Biden 
administration owes the American people answers, not just Members of 
Congress and not just members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They 
need to tell us what is being done to keep track of these children. How 
are they ensuring their welfare? What is going to change to ensure that 
these migrant children are not victims of inhumane labor practices or 
worse?
  Given everything that has happened over the last 2\1/2\ years, I have 
no confidence in Secretary Becerra, Secretary Mayorkas, or President 
Biden, because they know about the problem. They were warned about the 
problem, but they didn't do anything about it, which tells me they just 
don't care.
  President Biden lives in a very nice government-provided house--the 
White House. He is not personally affected by this unprecedented level 
of human migration and the baffling pace of drug trafficking. He is not 
personally affected by the fact that 108,000 Americans died last year 
after consuming drugs that came across our southwestern border, and he 
is certainly not personally affected by the mistreatment of these 
migrant children, but it is his job. It is his responsibility. It is 
our responsibility to make sure this comes to an end because this is 
simply unacceptable.
  Children endure abuse and exploitation on their journeys to the 
United States. The current system is not compassionate, but they sure 
shouldn't be met here on American soil with more of the same. We need 
to prioritize the safety of these children as they await their 
immigration court hearings. President Biden and his administration must 
change and take responsibility for this gross exploitation of these 
vulnerable children, and they need to take immediate action to end it.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 
3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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