Indy Standard

U.S. Senators Todd Young and Chuck Grassley, along with over 30 Republican senators, have called for changes to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) policies regarding unaccompanied alien children in the United States. The senators are urging ORR to revise its current rule or face potential congressional action.

The group has criticized ORR’s Proposed Rule, which they claim allows vulnerable children to be placed with unvetted sponsors and restricts whistleblowers from reporting abuse. "This Proposed Rule ignores nearly seven years of oversight conducted by Congress and the Office of Inspector General," the senators wrote.

The rule does not consider a sponsor's criminal record or other welfare concerns as disqualifying factors. "In effect, ORR accepts a sponsor’s representations almost entirely on face value," they continued.

The letter emphasizes that ORR's approach fails to protect children from poorly vetted individuals. The taxpayers funded ORR $5.5 billion in FY2022 for these services. "The Proposed Rule is wholly unworkable and ORR should discard it," the letter concluded.

Senators Lindsey Graham, Shelley Moore Capito, Marsha Blackburn, among others, joined Young and Grassley in signing the letter addressed to Robin Dunn Marcos and Jeff Hild at ORR.