WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) led 41 bicameral Republican colleagues in a letter urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to work with Congress to root out abuses in their administration’s unaccompanied migrant children program and stop the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s cover-up of the crisis.
The lawmakers are urging Biden and Harris to “make changes to [their] policies and procedures” in order to “end this public safety crisis.” They are specifically calling on the Biden-Harris administration to enhance information-sharing with law enforcement and Congress, fully cooperate with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) child exploitation investigation and thoroughly respond to all congressional oversight requests.
“[The Biden-Harris HHS] must stop its cover-up and cooperate with law enforcement and Congress to end this crisis and protect unaccompanied children and the American people,” the lawmakers concluded.
More than 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children have crossed the southwest border under the Biden-Harris administration, while cartel trafficking activity surged an estimated 2,500 percent. Amid this crisis, the lawmakers note the Biden-Harris administration limited background checks for sponsors of unaccompanied children, cut back on familial DNA testing at the border and decreased information sharing with law enforcement.
Joining Risch, Crapo, and Grassley on the letter are U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Roger Marshall (R-Kans.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), and 15 members of the House of Representatives.
Read the full letter here.
