Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who just left the Democratic Party to become an independent, is leading 45 Senate Republican colleagues in opposing a Biden administration rule on the treatment of unaccompanied migrant minors.
“We have a catastrophe on our southern border, and the human consequences are just heartbreaking. I have frequently urged President Biden to utilize his executive authority to shut it down and end the cycles of exploitation that illegal immigration creates. Instead, the administration is permitting laws like this one to imperil migrant children’s welfare by putting them in the hands of unvetted sponsors,” Manchin said in a statement.
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule, according to Manchin, would permit lax or optional vetting of sponsors for children and would not consider a sponsor’s criminal history, including drug abuse, abuse, or neglect, to disqualify child welfare concerns.
Manchin’s office stated that the administration’s new regulation would not compel a sponsor to divulge their immigration status with law enforcement and would establish “weak standards” for postrelease home studies to verify a child migrant’s welfare while in the sponsor’s custody.
Manchin also opposes restrictions on whistleblowers’ ability to alert Congress and the Health and Human Services Inspector General about program malfeasance.
According to HHS, when immigration authorities apprehend a child who enters the country without a parent or legal guardian, they place the child in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement until they release the child to a sponsor, typically a family member, to await court proceedings.
All sponsors must go through background checks and be considered suitable to care for a child’s well-being.
In April, HHS officials lauded the rule as an improvement on the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, citing higher criteria for unaccompanied child placement and release, emergency and influx operations, transportation, and monitoring requirements.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated that it “underscores HHS’s unwavering commitment to the health, safety, and welfare of unaccompanied children in our care.”
“By enhancing the legal framework governing the UC Program, we set clear standards for the care and treatment of unaccompanied children in ORR’s custody and the support they receive as they transition into new communities,” he stated.
Manchin can submit the resolution to the Congressional Review Act and force a vote, regardless of colleagues’ objections. It cannot be filibustered.
Both the Senate and the House must enact the resolution and the president must sign it in order to overturn the administration’s new rule.
