(The Center Square) – Unlike other nonagenarians celebrating their 91-year-old birthday with family and friends and enjoying retirement, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley spent his birthday standing on the U.S. Senate floor for over 30 minutes advocating for thousands of abused and missing children.
Born in 1933, Grassley is the oldest U.S. senator, longest serving Republican in Congressional history, and sixth-longest serving U.S. senator in history. Only six Democrats in the U.S. Senate served longer than he has. He is likely to surpass two Democrats who served longer by 40-60 days, who were born in the 1880s.
“In the Biden-Harris America, children disappear every day. You won’t see their faces on any milk cartons. Search parties aren’t set for them and the Amber Alert almost never sounds,” Grassley said. “According to the Justice Department’s filings, some of these children reappear years later in emergency departments with the injuries from physical or sexual abuse. Others resurface as underage laborers working jobs that most adults won’t even take, and many are never heard from again. These forgotten children are overlooked because they are unaccompanied migrant children” who are brought into the U.S. without family members.”
Since fiscal 2021, more than 500,000 UACs have been brought into the U.S. without a parent or guardian and placed in the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS ORR). They are sent to HHS-contracted facilities nationwide, with the majority sent to Texas, California and Florida, The Center Square reported.
For 10 years, Grassley has demanded accountability for UAC oversight. On his birthday, he pointed to reports showing over 100,000 missing UACs; Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General audits identifying neglect and abuse, including not vetting sponsors and losing track of children; and UACs being used for child labor.
After HHS whistleblowers came forward with serious allegations, including an alleged Biden-Harris administration coverup, Grassley made criminal referrals to law enforcement. In one recent lawsuit against an HHS-funded NGO, the DOJ alleges a “pattern or practice of severe or pervasive sexual harassment of children” in their care.
“So, we have to ask ourselves, if we’re humanitarians, how many more children have to endure abuse before Congress finally says enough is enough?” Grassley asked. “I say it shouldn’t be even one more.”
Grassley’s bill, S. 5073, would deny future contracts to facilities identified by the DOJ as abusing UACs. He asked the Senate to pass it with unanimous consent, meaning no roll call vote was required.
“I think this is a very commonsense [solution] that no politician, no member of the Senate – Republican or Democrat – should stand against,” he said.
But one did: U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, effectively killed Grassley’s bill. He instead proposed an amendment to codify a Biden-Harris administration proposal, which Grassley rejected, arguing it puts UACs at further risk.
Merkley said he shared the same concerns of Grassley but then criticized the Trump administration, claiming children were being separated from their parents five years ago. Border Patrol agents have explained that cartels use “fake family units” to smuggle and traffic UACs into and throughout the U.S., The Center Square has reported.
Merkley also said Grassley’s “heart’s in the right place” and is “pointing out flaws that are very, very real” but disagreed on the solution. His proposal includes expediting UACs out of HHS-contracted facilities, eliminating fingerprint-based background checks, and checking criminal records of sponsors, among other measures.
Grassley said his amendment was “merely cementing in place the Biden-Harris policy” that “willy nilly turns over children to sponsors” without verifying their identity and safety.
Merkley blocked the bill after 158 House Democrats voted against another bill to ensure domestic violence abusers, sex offenders, child rapists and other violent criminals are deported.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., attempted to hold responsible ORR’s director by eliminating her salary, but 45 House Republicans joined Democrats to oppose his measure.
Grassley next led a coalition of over 40 Republicans in the Senate and House again urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to hold accountable HHS ORR.
“UACs often experience horrible sexual, physical, and emotional abuse” as they are often smuggled to U.S. borders, “victims of cartel trafficking and exploitation,” the coalition said. Their suffering doesn’t end once they arrive at the U.S. but continues when they are released “into the hands of unvetted sponsors who often continue to exploit and abuse them.”
As the volume of UACs arriving in the U.S. increased, ORR significantly reduced “background checks and vetting procedures to speed up the process, despite knowing children were being trafficked through HHS ORR’s UAC program,” according to DHS OIG audits. Information sharing with law enforcement was negligible, ORR was negligent in caring for UACs, didn’t comply with congressional subpoenas, and didn’t provide requested information about the whereabouts of UACs to DHS, they argue.
“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,” they said.
