HHS Secretary Confirms Release Of ‘Over 300,000’ Migrant Kids

While much of the criticism surrounding the Biden administration’s immigration policies hinges on the arrival of military-age men from around the world, there has also been growing concern regarding the way unaccompanied minors who arrive in the U.S. illegally are treated by federal agents.

According to recent congressional testimony from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, hundreds of thousands of children have been released into the care of adults, many of whom are not relatives, since President Joe Biden was inaugurated in early 2021. 

His confirmation that “over 300,000” unaccompanied minors were turned over to individuals living in the U.S. instead of being deported to their countries of origin came during a hearing before the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, though he was either unwilling or unable to provide some other related details. 

Specifically, U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) asked how many of those children received a welfare check from HHS after they were transferred to the custody of another adult.

Becerra said that monitoring the well-being of children after they leave HHS custody is “not a statutory obligation,” going on to cite a vague “commitment to try to follow up with every child that we place with at least three phone calls to this child and three phone calls to this sponsor.”

Long-time television personality Dr. Phil McGraw addressed his concerns about the fate of unaccompanied minors arriving in the U.S. after he visited the border earlier this year.

“I talked to the head of all the border guards down there, the head of the union,” he said during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” last month. “I ask him straight-up, ‘Kids are coming over the border with numbers written on them, phone numbers and addresses. Do we check those out?’ He said, ‘Well, we call them.’ ‘Is it possible that we’re sending them into known prostitution rings or sweatshops?’ He said, ‘It’s not possible, it is absolute.’ We are using American tax dollars to ship children into known prostitution and sweatshops.”

Becerra told lawmakers that it is up to the children to guarantee their own safety, explaining: “We try to make sure that they’re aware that they can call a hotline number where we will try to make sure they get assistance.”