Tools they need to be ready for anything. Mcast supports easement a a public serce among these Television Providers giving weak front receipt to democracies. And now solicitor of labor for the u. S. Labor Department Joins federal officials in the state Department Homeland security and health and Human Services department to testify on the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied minors encountered at the border. Discuss resource needs holding those accountable for violation of child labor laws and protocols when encountering a child suspected of in traffic. This hearing will come to order. Today we gather for the committees second hearing examining safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied children who seek refuge in the United States we held the first hearing in june the response to a disturbing near times investigation exposing the exploitation of these children. At that hearing we heard from Child Welfare and labor experts for today we hear directly from executive Branch Officials about what steps to confront this problem. I know there is bipartisan interest in this issue. Several republican members asked me too hold todays hearing which is happy to do. Theyre happy to come at the request because i was already working to schedule it. It is a major challenge for our nation we need to face it honestly. There is a long history of both parties working together to protect these children. In 2008 the Senate Unanimously passed the trafficking victims protection reauthorization act. This legislation protections for unaccompanied children were championed by our colleague senator feinstein signed into law by republican president george w. Bush. As a result our laws require unaccompanied children arriving in the United States be screened for Human Trafficking, host and child appropriate settings and reunited with family in the u. S. Will they await their immigration proceedings outcome. These laws enshrine our nations moral and legal responsibility to protect children, Vulnerable Children and those fleeing from persecution for the tragic reality is these children are still at risk once they arrive here. Since 2018 our nation has seen nearly 70 increase, 70 increase in under age children in violation of child labor laws. Several states responded to our labor shortage amazingly by passing laws and making it easier for children to work in many dangerous jobs. It is hard to imagine, but that is affected. When i was in college i spent four summers working in a meatpacking plant in east st. Louis, illinois i can tell you it is no place for a kid. You can lose a limb or a life. Children as young as 12 years of age water working in slaughterhouses and factories make us think of the 1830s and 1930s and not modern times. Our hope in todays hearing will be an opportunity to continue bipartisan spirit protecting unaccompanied children who risk their lives to remind everyone these unaccompanied children are just that, children. I would like to show the story of one eyed teenager named eric. He came to the United States is unaccompanied child, took a job to help his family back home. His employers stop paying him protect dereks birth certificate and immigration documents he threatened to call immigration if eric stopped working and even worse he threatened to harm erics family in his home country. Fortunately eric had the support of an adult who stepped in. I trusted social worker from the department of Human Services. To social worker connected him to federal Law Enforcement as well as medical Legal Services. We all, i hope we all agree no child should ever be abused, exploited or trafficked. Thats why ive tried to be consistent in my oversight efforts the presence republican or democrat. I vigorously oppose and still do the trump administrations family separation policy. Earlier this year i demanded the bite administration do more to protect Migrant Children. They have made progress since then but certainly much more has to be done. We cannot forget the responsibility of the United States congress. It is easy to criticize the executive branch but first we should look in the mirror. It has been decades, three in fact three decades of Congress Passed immigrant meaningful legislation. Instead of lobbing partisan attacks us come together across the aisle to fix our broken immigration system, secure our border, protect these children. I reject the extreme that says not one more immigrant and i have heard my colleagues in congress say that. Not one more immigrant. I also reject extreme that says were doing just fine, status quo is acceptable. Weve got to find middle ground that is reasonable, thoughtful reflects American Values in a world which is teeming with refugees people desperate to find new places to live. Imagine whats going on in the middle east. He going to feel it soon if not already we provide Adequate Funding to increase force meant against child labor violations must children are here and ensure these children access to the services they need. We also need new safeguards than the promise this week of introducing legislation to improve sponsoring bedding, help children navigate the legal system better protect minors in government custody. I welcome a college to be the decided out to join me in that effort. With that i handle things off to the Ranking Member senator graham. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You do have a history of trying to find common ground. And harder problems associated immigration. Ive been working in that regard for long time. Many times with you. I have never seen anything like this. Since 2020 the number of unaccompanied minors is gone upy 312 . I think you will find sympathy on our side to make sure people are well taken care of. But you will also find on our site the desire for safety and wellbeing sometime ensuring the safety and wellbeing of unaccompanied children. What about the safety and wellbeing of the American People . From ilLegal Immigration. Cnn, not fox, smugglers associated with isis are getting people into the country. October 21, Border Patrol stops Record Number of people on their watchlist at southern border. October 23, cbp memo sounds the alarm on hamas hezbollah fighters potential using southern border to enter the u. S. Im a strong supportive aid to ukraine. It is a fight that matters to us. Ukrainians are fighting like tigers im all for giving them more aid and assistance so they cant repel the russian invader. Im all for helping our friends in israel who are in the fight for their very existence. But we have got to do something to help the American People. The American People have an unsecured border. The American People being overrun with ilLegal Immigration. The unaccompanied children have increased since 2020 by 312 . Whatever the bite administration is doing, it is not working. As to the supplemental there will have to be policy changes to get my support. I will not back to South Carolina and say we have israel, we have you cream but we did nothing meaningful in our own border. Our solid system is being games, the parole system is being abused. And after coming back from israel i can tell you with these hamas fighters are capable of. I cannot say it here because it is so terrible. Their desire to kill the jews is unlimited. And they would kill us to if they can get here. So mr. Chairman, now is the time to find a solution to the asylum parole problem so we can have some breathing space to find a way to better protect america i cannot in good conscious tell you that money will fix this. The proposal by President Biden you are our border is more to do with processing Illegal Immigrants than it does to turn them around. My goal is to come up with policies that will stop the flood of ilLegal Immigration which aid terrorists not expedite their entry. Not more money for blue states are housing these people every american should want their border secure. Im sure every american wants to take care of children when we find them. You cannot have every child throughout the world dropped on our doorstep. This is a process that needs to change it is bad for the children. I cannot stress to you enough broken borders existed under the board it is a cocktail for the American People to be viciously attacked. I have run out of patience it is now time to change policy. It is part of a package for our allies. It will be ironic to me we help israel and ukraine and do nothing on our own border that would change the trajectory of ilLegal Immigration. Everything in the biden proposal does not make anybody want to turn around. That is what i am seeking is to have people turn around. Thank you, senator graham. Tonight we welcome the witnesses director for Central American bureau western Hemisphere Affairs at the department of state. Thank you. Also joined by robin dunn at marcos director of the office of Refugee Resettlement at the department of health and Human Services. Then we will hear from a solicitor of labor at the department of labor who i understand is from the great city of chicago, welcome. Our final witness the assistant director for Homeland Security investigations and director of the department of Homeland Security center for countering Human Trafficking. We lay out the mechanics after soaring the witness hs five minutes will have rounds of questioning each senator will have five minutes to try to stay within your allotted time. I would ask the witnesses to please stand to be sworn in. Read your right hand. Do you swear and from the testimony back to before the scheduled will be the truth, the whole truth so be god . Let the record reflect all four witnesses answered in the affirmative. You are first. Thank you chairman durbin Ranking Member graham for holding this important hearing. He loved her and i am honored to join my colleagues here for the true experts in the fighting is trafficking in what happens want Central Americans make the difficult choice to leave the country. I am grateful for the opportunity to talk to you more about the complex conditions a dry people to migrate northern and Central America muscles important progress on her efforts to address them. Northern and Central America faces serious several challenges. Democratic backsliding in the region affects Peoples Trust in institution and perception of how freely they can exercise their rights. Victims of corruption or more likely to express intentions to migrate. High youth unemployment rates numerous barriers such as inadequate access to education vast economic equality spur migration. Coupled with high levels low wages do not cover basic needs, vicious cycle of reliance on debts to meet those all can balkan gypsymigratory wave. Despite decreased homicide rates other types of crime and violence rampant gender gender based violence because insecurity in the region. Many individuals and families who see migration as the only choice to escape poverty, instability, narcotics, violence and related catastrophes in 2021 the Bidenharris Administration brought the strategy to address the root causes of irregular migration from Central America. The root cause a strategy focuses on creating good jobs, promoting democratic governance, protecting human rights, improving security and countering genderbased violence help Central Americans build Better Futures at home. The drive irregular migration forced displacement for Central America food insecurity, structural challenges extreme poverty citizen insecurity, poor governance and endemic corruption. First and foremost we need strong governance in the region. Without it we cannot achieve sustainable equitable progress across all strategic areas including Economic Prosperity and security. We partner with Civil Society the private sector, labor unions, regional Governments International actors to advance u. S. Policy goals. In the last year state department u. S. Agency for International Develop and International Develop supporting more than 1500 human rights defenders and trained more than 500 independent journalists. This support provides quick help to embattled human rights defenders Civil Society organizations to Emergency Assistance supporting human rights actors to begin practitioners to remain resilient and mitigate risk. Overcome threats and continued their important work as safely as possible. For the initiative would bring together u. S. Resources public and private diplomacy, foreign assistance programming and enforcement authorities to protect, defend, promote space in Central America. We are also taking actions to promote accountability and corrupt and undemocratic actors including human rights abuses july 19 lesion the most recent public list consistent with 359 of the northern triangle enhancing engagement act of individuals knowingly engage in acts that undermine democratic processes or institutions, engage in corruption or obstruct an investigation into such acts of corruption. This critical tool permits can build and i push a bipartisan support for our Economic Growth Vice President harassment by innovative Publicprivate Partnership for great good jobs under Central America Foreign Companies have committed to invest over fourpoint to billion dollars in el salvador, guatemala and honduras. These investments have created thousands of good jobs. Connected 4 Million People to the internet, brought more than 1 Million People and trained almost 500,000 people to enhance the workforce abilities including digital and language skills. This is key to ending irregular migration. This is not just about investments, our private sector engagement reinforces the rule of law, Good Governance and human rights. We certainly are not naive about the challenges we face it will take time to address many of his longterm structural issues to work on these issues we are grateful continued bipartisan support. Too ultimately help the people in the region maintain their future in their home countries thank you for the opportunity to testify for the great thank you chairman durbin, ranking mammogram and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf i have let a dedicated team of professionals who are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of every child in our care. This is not only our mandate it is published earlier this month what established a comprehensive framework for placement and care in the formalize and expand services for unaccompanied children. However, without creations in fiscal year 24 there could be an impact on ors ability minimally required we would also Welcome Congress for o rr to expand only access thank you again for the opportunity to testify today children who come into care face unique challenges doing all we can just say further wellbeing. I am happy to address that thank you. Quick thank you ms. Marcus good morning chairman durbin, Ranking Member grand tent members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Department of labor is responsible for enforcing the nations fundamental, federal Worker Protection laws. Including child labor laws. Eightyfive years ago Congress Passed the fair labor standards act, which included child labor provisions. Congress intended to protect children in our industrialized economy by ensuring when young people work the work is safe ageappropriate and does not jeopardize their health, wellbeing or education. The importance and relevance of these foundational principles remain. In fiscal year 2023 the department saw an 88 increase since fy 2019. And the number of children has found employed illegally. As a challenge of child labor exploitation including Migrant Children increases nationwide the department of labor to investigate child labor investigation and hold the wage and Hour Division the office of solicitor or working collaboratively to leverage all available enforcement tools to protect children from exploited labor. The wage and hour complaints to ensure his complaints of child Labor Protections and all investigations. Fy 2023 the Department Found 9055 companies that it investigated had employed nearly 5000acre children in violation of child labor laws including over 500 children employed in hazardous jobs. The department assessed more than 8 million in civil monetary penalties against employers through employed children. Today the department has more than 800 open child labor cases nationwide. The Solicitors Office attorneys are responsible for obtaining and supporting an organization monetary penalty assessment filing temporary restraining order limiting injunction. Crafting settlement agreements that hold employers accountable and more. When cases cannot be resolved at the investigative stage the Solicitors Office is the Agency Responsible for litigating this cases appeared in recent years the Solicitors Office and landmark cases to ensure compliance with child labor laws. September 2022 for example the department obtained a federal court order to stop alabama llc a manufacturer of hyundai and kia auto parts from illegally employing 13, 14, 15 year old workers. Soon after in november 2022 the department secured a nationwide temporary restraining order against pakistan services, pss and i want other nations providers of food safety sanitation to stop the company from illegally minor aged workers. To fight for every 2020 if it had assessed at 1. 5 million civil monetary penalties in this case. After finding more than 100 children illegally employed in hazardous occupations and working overnight shifts at Meat Processing facilities. Just this month the Department Found they have good actions and obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the exploitation by poultry processor in california. The Department Also recognize the need for a whole of government approach. Just 10 days after psi was paid 1. 5 million the apartment announced a significant effort to combat exploited child labor. This included the initiation of National Strategic and horsemen initiative on child labor in the lodge of Interagency Task force to combat child labor exploitation led by the department of labor. As a part of these efforts the department of labor health and Human Services signed a memory and understanding of march 2023. It formalize an Ongoing Partnership and outline procedures to Work Together to keep an information sharing, coordination, cross training of staff, public efforts. No modern nation should build its economy on the backs of exploited children. The calling on congress to ensure the department has the resources needed for this work, this enforcement work into a recent penalties for Companies Based child labor. We must all Work Together to make sure children are safe, healthy and protected from exploitation. Thank you and i look forward to your questions today. Quick thank you. For mr. Marandi . Good morning. Chairman durbin, Ranking Member graham, distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify the role of Homeland Security. Federal crimes in the exploitation of noncitizen children after their arrival in the United States for eight i determine Human Trafficking has occurred. I serve as a director dhs center for counter located within a society. Building capacity across the hs supporting Human Trafficking worldwide. This month marks my third Year Anniversary of the Law Enforcement officer. Throughout my years of experience in various roles i witnessed the darker aspects of human behavior. Im on the account is a concern building. To share the sentiment continually this commitment identifying using the centered approach are 20. 6 Million People worldwide an estimated 77 sex trafficking. His work places. Hsi investigations or traffickers operate within agriculture fracturing, private homes as Domestic Workers typically jobs with lower pay some of which is unaccompanied children as potential buildup victims. Overall research or pattern but rather a consistent ongoing crime that we investigate unwavering dedication. These investigations are occurring throughout the United States. Primarily into agricultural industry. Today i speak about the way we work these cases. In general hsi proactively investigates received reports from a variety of sources. Conducted intensive outreach within local communities were close with Law Enforcement partners. When hsis investigate employer hiring practices, were also looking for signs of trafficking which will then investigate further or signs of labor exploitation and child labor we preferred to the department of labor. Hsa initiates Human Trafficking investigations when agency of First Contact encounters unaccompanied noncitizen children identifies them as trafficking victims sit quietlyy refers the case hsi. When the u. S. Customs border section of health and Human Services identifies and unaccompanied child has the potential trafficking mecca, th, they contact the nurse. If hsi will investigate. Committed to every authority and Resources Available to make the arrest human editors. And to identify in the system. Anyone report suspicions of Human Trafficking hsi always available for better other federal, state, local, tribal territorial Law Enforcement reports referral tips of Human Trafficking Child Sexual Exploitation unlawful employer hiring thank you questions. Well have around five minutes centers and i will start. The first person who introduced him to the world of politics taught me something. He said humility is a First Casualty in politics. I have followed that standard when it comes to breaking as often as possible about the fact my mother was an immigrant to this country and i am proud of it. Her naturalization certificate sits by my desk as a reminder of where i cut my attitude about immigration i cannot understand anyone regardless of clinical affiliation we are a nation is our strength is in diversity. The question is the only procesr not . The reason is to make sure we have a process people can respect that cannot be overwhelmed at the same time understand their roles and have a followed. They are mindboggling. It is impossible to explain. I asked my staff to put together a list of the number of encounters on the Company Children for Border Patrol since 2000. Its an incredible list revelations. In the year 2020 there were 1960057 unaccompanied children that were encountered at the border. 19000. 2021 at 140,000. 2022, 1,490,002,023 hundred 31000. The obvious question is what change and change so dramatically during the period of time . It certainly is not enacted legislation by congress is nothing virtually nothing when it comes to policy changes in this country. There is something going on an Economic Force a graphic force would member it may be thats pushing or pulling more and more people to our borders and numbers and precedent. Obvious question is do something about it and can we do something that is balanced and not people who feel that it reflects our values and brings order to the border. I think about these numbers in practical terms. Hope we all accept the premise of this hearing. Any child who shows up at our board deserves to be treated like a real human being. Treated like a visitor to america and given protection and help in areas that are most vulnerable in their lives. I hope we all accept that premise. If you dont im sorry. I will tell you this having accepted that premise you have to ask with the Current System designed long before we ran into these numbers is adequate to the task. Where are these unaccompanied children go . What families of the being sent to . How did they refer them . How do we follow up . How do we make sure their statements we were there. The sheer given you here make it difficult for me too understand how we can say were going to keep up with this flow of people and maintain quality care for these kids. Ive given a long Opening Statement hope will be able to avoid but couldnt like to start if i could talk about the economic circumstances create this. Those economic circumstances have been in the world for a long time. What change last three or four years . Thank you chairman durbin push factors as you mentioned the political stability, the poverty and violence, food scarcity, lack of medical care, Climate Change all these are against the backdrop of even a bigger numbers in the world. There are approximately 108 Million People force to be displaced globally. And of that number one or 8 million roughly 20 million are in the western hemisphere. This is the definition of a challenge no one country can face by itself. We have issues stemming from a hmong regime in venezuela. We have issues stemming from the beginning of a regime and nicaragua. We have issues in northern Central America also that are driving the families and members of society to make difficult choices for themselves and for their families and for their children to head north. We are attempting to tackle this diplomatically through regular engagement with these countries to try and address the issues at home. That is why the assistant secretary Brian Nichols is actually in the region. Yesterday was in guatemala. Today hes in el salvador for. Of going to have to cut you off or running out of time. But certainly give you time to respond on the record. Could someone address on the panel the fact we offer services which we offered for many years and now we have volumes and numbers of unaccompanied children which are breaking the system and make it very difficult for us to keep our promise. When someone like to talk about the resources being dedicated to this new resources to meet the challenge . Thank you, senator. As you mentioned in your opening the importance of a trusted adult in these adult lives cannot be overstated. Children, we do our best. We have a thorough vetting process to release the children to vetted sponsors. Primarily close Family Members. But when and if those placement breakdown having that trusted adult through post relief postf services or Legal Services. We have more children receiving those services that we have ever had but we need to continue omitting the support of congress to do that. Because of unprecedented members in the Refugee Program both the Refugee Program in the unaccompanied children is one budget we do have a request for 1. 9 billion to be able to properly continue to expand all children have the services for. Thank you. We need more Legal Immigration we need less ilLegal Immigration company in the camp of making sure children are not abused and employers who abuse them should go to jail. How you say that . Moran. I want to help you get the bad guys. You cannot fix a problem until you understand the nature of it. Mr. Salazar, is it your belief is 312 increase in on Company Minor since 2020 is all about the economics of the world and not about biden policy regarding illegal aggression . Economics is but one factor of the root causes for. You dont think the policies the by administrations have implemented is a direct correlation to increase the ilLegal Immigration levels of never seen before . Did Biden Administrations lead the largest expansion of legal powers for. Or do you think youre doing it well . Does the Biden Administration of the right policy becomes ilLegal Immigration . With all humility sir weve got more that needs to be done for. The question is, is it working . Do you believe the policies being implemented by the Biden Administration are working when it comes to deterring ilLegal Immigration and controlling our borders . Is anything more that needs to be done frankly. Quick summary time with that more is. Cut off the pull factors. If you are from mexico can we send you home is an unaccompanied minor . Or canada . Its the law of the United States if it unaccompanied minor from mexico and canada we can send them back to their country, is that correct . I am not sure im not aware of the losses for. You need to be aware of the law i think ive just exposed a problem here. Let me tell you. The lot is if youre from canada and mexico you show up with it unaccompanied minor we can literally send you home lessers evidences track it. The reason its gonna try to 12 different noncontiguous nation mexico or canada we have to keep you. Word is out all over the world if you get here is an unaccompanied mining and not from mexico and canada you will be here forever. That is why theres 300 something increase. I would like to change that law i like to harmonize the law no matter where you come from we can send you back to the country of origin because if we dont will have more Human Trafficking going to have more sorrow for children we will eventually get a 17 rope in this country. This is the root problem. The border policy of President Biden are a disaster. When the highest number in the country. Time to bring about change we change our law is a terrible situation asylum claims are not Economic Hardship base the entire asylum system is broken need to change. When to deter people from dropping their children off at the border because its hazardous for them there is a breaking point for the American People. So my advice mr. Chairman is to let us Work Together to change the law, to slow down the illegal flow. Work together down the road to fix a broken immigration system but we have a war raging against her friends in israel. The map of europe is being re written by force of arms. Everybody in the policy world is screaming at us that the likelihood of a terrorist getting into our country through broken border is exceedingly high. The number of people on the terror watch list grows by the day. I would like to make sure unaccompanied children are not exploited when they get here that is a noble effort. I would like to deter the world from dropping kids off at our border. Not good for them its not good for us. The policy changes that are going to be required have to be done before we can expect a different outcome. If we keep doing what were doing and expect Something Different you will be disappointed i am writing to make policy changes to stop what i considered Biggest National Security Threat to america, a broken border for. And cassandra graham, et cetera booker . Thank you, mr. Chairman. The Child Exploitation our country we have seen reported his standing and shameful and truly extraordinary when you think of the United States and american eighthgrader killed on a cleaning shift on a poultry plant in mississippi a 14yearold hospitalized in alabama after being overworked and a chicken operation at 7yearold in ohio had his leg torn off at the knee monthly processing facility. An addict child lost his hand and a meat grinder in the michigan operation. A 14yearold named working an overnight shift in our country. This should horrify everyone. But given what we know it should not surprise us. I am glad we are discussing this strength faithful for this hearing as a whole range of things we could be doing to better serve imMigrant Children but i want to say this clearly. Employers have a responsibility to abide by federal labor law and the moral standards of our nation. Within their companies on plant floors and their contracts they should follow the rules of law and they should follow their own conscience. I sent letters to me Packing Companies to take immediate steps to put an end to these child labor abuses at their facilities. Since then i want to say some companies have stepped up on are working to eliminate this exploitative contractors and abusive models that outsources the overnight cleaning of their facilities. They have moved these jobs up back inhouse. Youre into better wages, benefits and security of a union job. But too Many Companies continue to sit on their hands the department of labor in my opinion has to step up and enforce the law. These companies are getting away with that consequence to some of the most shameful and immoral practices going on in our nation. For companies or refuse to implement changes to see children and their safety as a costsaving measure at the very minimum should not be the recipient of federal tax dollars. Thats why im introducing today the preventative Child Exploitation act with my colleague josh hawley our bipartisan bill will require Companies Competing for contracts with federal agencies to disclose child labor and the infraction by the company itself as well as by any of her contractors in the preceding three years require the secretary of labor to prepare a list of companies that are in eligible for federal contracts for that year based on serious repeated pervasive child labor laws. We absolutely in a bipartisan way have an obligation to help these children often in poverty who have dangerous situations at home to find themselves in our country being exploited in that dangerous situation with United States. This is beneath the dignity of this nation and took values we proclaim at the minimum we need to restore accountability for those companies. So i just want to say im grateful for your testimony in junes hearing on this topic i focused on the consequences of the continued failure to have a department of labor that has the resources to do the investigation into these abject morally bankrupt practices that are going on in our country. The child labor investigation or specially resource intensive with the department of labor and what are ways in which the dol has assisted corporations seeking to address child labor in their supply chains . Thank you so much for that question senator occur. Child labor investigations as i said have gone up 88 in the last year. We are simply seeing more of them i cannot underscore enough how laborintensive these investigations are. Before the investigations even start there is a lot of work that goes into understanding what the investigators are going to encounter when they get into that plant or that facility. What are the type of workers they will encounter. One of the type of employers. How are we going to show or prove those are minor children et cetera. Theres a lot of preinvestigative work. We have been routinely obtaining anticipatory warrants. That involves a lot of work to make sure we have cause to get a warrant we can properly execute it. Sometimes working with marshals or Law Enforcement to make sure can execute that warrant. Often this is taking place in the middle of the night. Our packer sanitation case involved the third shift was a very Young Children cleaning very, very dangerous head split cutters and other dangerous equipment. After we go in we are potentially getting declarations and affidavits from the investigators who were with the children so we can potentially get it restraining order our packer sanitation call case involves going in at the same time to sever in separate facilities all in the middle of the night. Huge resources of lawyers and investigative teams in some cases needing to be flown into different places in nebraska, minnesota, wisconsin were ever places in the country to have that factor where we can go in and still have the surprise back seeking temporary restraining orders, p ssi within days getting the temporary a nationwide there after working to get a permanent injunction. And then assess the monetary penalties that takes an extraordinary amounts of investigated time. An extraordinary amount of legal time and a legal work put out just senator, on your question about Holding Everyone in the supply chain accountable, we completely agree. We are using tools like the hotbeds provision of the fair labor standards act which is a powerful tool to stop the movement of goods that are made around child labor. That is a tool we are using for. And going to cut you off to be respectful of my colleagues be gone two minutes over. I just her to thank senator hawley as well as the staff for working with us over the last months to come up with what i think is a morally urgent bill to create needed accountability to end these morally bankrupt offensive practices that are going on systematically in our country so thank you. Thank you, senator booker, senator cornyn . Works mr. Chairman. Thank you for having this hearing you said you would do it and you are doing it so i appreciate it very much. This is urgent and serious issue. I think what we are seeing is what happens with the Biden Administration is outsourcing its immigration policy to criminal cartels who are getting richer by the minute smuggling people and drugs into the United States. And of course the human casualties associated with that the grieving parents losing their children to fentanyl poisoning are well documented. Mr. Salazar, in your testimony you talk about Central America and the socalled root causes strategy. It sounds to me like the administration is engaged innate nationbuilding process to try to address immigration and doing nothing at all about the pull factors which lay out the welcome mat for people all around the world. Let me just ask you, did you know that in 2022 people from 174 Different Countries came to our border and were released into the interior of the United States customer 174 countries. Did you know that . Im sorry no story did not pray. And did you know so far in 2023 people from 143 countries have come to our board and been released by the bite administration into the interior of the United States. Did you know that number . No, sir i did not. Well i agree with senator graham when you try to solve a problem the first thing you need to do is understand what the problem is. What has happened as a result of the expectation that if you make it to the border youre going to be able to make it into the interior of the United States and stay for the rest of your national is a huge a maga who would not want to come to the United States on the prospects are far better its a natural magnet. The fighting administration you can stay control smuggling controlled drugs continue to get rich so its not to love from their perspective . The casualties associated with this are real. From hhs in the office of refugee relocation. Theyve been placed with sponsors during the Biden Administration. Is that your understanding roughly 300,000 . Thank you, senator. I claimed asylum but under the Current Practice you identify a sponsor. And then that child is placed with a sponsor. And i think there is a chart or priority list weathers a family relationship but there does not have to be. Isnt it a fact there is no mandatory fbi criminal background check system on the sponsors . There is no requirement and no practice which you do that in every case, correct . A sex offender register tractor. I asked about an fbi criminal background check request certain sponsors have an fbi background check. Not all of them . That is correct. The New York Times as you know documented in 85000 cases a call was made up their familiar with that story . Yes i am. The truth is the Biden Administration does not know what has happened to those 85000 children. Or to the larger point the 300,000 children placed with sponsors. The administration does not mean that is their responsibility, is that correct . Senator, as i mentioned while our custodial authority pray. I asked is that correct . Our care for the children does not. We are expanding post Relief Services for. Im asking about three thousand there is no followup. Can i just ask as a final question the New York Times documented susan rice the domestic policy advisor for the bite administration and secretary whose head health and human boats were made aware of the 85000 attempts to contact sponsors without avail. And did nothing in response. Do you know if in fact the president of the United States was informed about these facts . Senator like to set the record straight. Although a call was not picked up for. You know the present United States was made aware of the report in the New York Times about 85000 unanswered wellness checks 30 days after the child was placed with a sponsor . The present of the nicest know that . We are in regular communication want to raid or a telephone up do not post Relief Services you cannot tell said visiting the trafficking and forced labor neglected or otherwise abuse. The fact of the matter is its obvious to me by Administration Simply does not care. My time is up. Senator lee . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank all of you for being here. I would like to start with you. That lotta material to head cover like you to confine your answers to yes or no if possible. Summarize some of what i understand about this process the or our process. Once you get a child, you start looking for a sponsor or alternatively a sponsor may come to you. You do some precursory background check to figure out what is going on. To see if they have got any convictions in the United States. You do not ask at the sponsors here legally. You dont check in the sponsors home country of the person is not originally from the United States. To say if they are wanted there for a crime or have been convicted there of a crime. You do not come with local Law Enforcement you seldom, if ever do a home visit. If they dont answer the phone after a month or so you consider your job done. Given you cannot remove a child once you place her with a sponsor wouldnt you agree to vetting on the front and should be increasingly more vigorous and not less . Shouldnt a home visit confirm with local Law Enforcement bare minimum that is done rather the entirety of what you do . Thank you for those question senator. I think that we have several vetting processes in place. We have Child Welfare experts throughout the country. We believe a child is best with a family in a community, not in a congregate care setting too. I dont doubt that, i do not doubt that. But, given what you dont do is what a find alarming i dont doubt that you do some things. But what you dont do is alarming and thats what should not be surprising near times article my colleague senator cornyn referred too. Indicating hhs has lost contact altogether with more than 85000 children. 85000 children this administration is negligently placed with all but unknown sponsors. This correctly that they are not lost because youre not legally responsible to know where any of them are after you place them; yes or no . Thank you, senator. I want to clarify that its not a Law Enforcement agency. Im not accusing you of that. Im saying you dont know where they are. 430,000 unaccompanied children. The vulnerable unaccompanied children who crossed over the border the last 34 months since President Biden took office. What percentage of those childrens whereabouts can you tell me with any degree of certainty . Senator, respectfully, i want to state, again that it is not accurate to say we have lost, that we have lost them. What percentage can you tell us where they are . I dont have those figures directly in front of me let me tell you what is happening to them because clearly you either dont know or you are not saying. They are being trafficked for sex. Doctors without borders has repeatedly told us that at a minimum, 30 of the young women and children that make this dangerous track across our southern border, to it and then across it, or sexually abused on their journey. There are other entities that have come up with much higher estimates. Some of them double that or more. Can you give us any idea how many that have entered the country under the Biden Administration have been trafficked either in route or after they leave your care . Any idea at all . Any estimate or approximation of how many of them . Senator, one is one too many. I dont have those numbers in front of me, but any time we have a flag for a child in our care, we make a referral within 24 hours we are inferring to and appropriate authority, hsi, our office for trafficking in persons. If we want to change this narrative, we want to provide post Relief Services and Legal Services to every child. Thank you. My time is expired, but the sheer volume coupled with of the estimates that ive never heard you refute that we are talking about probably hundreds of thousands of them whove been trafficked for sex and have been sexually abused, this is wrong. Its wrong that we set up a system that encourages and then allows and promotes and perpetuates this process that enriches drug cartels and does so at the expense of child sex trafficking, and it must end. Thank you. Senator kennedy. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Since President Biden has been president , how many nonamerican citizens have come into the country illegally or on the basis of the claim of asylum . Thank you, senator. Hsi is an investigative agency. Do you know the number . No, senator. You are a Senior Member of Homeland Security, are you not . Thats correct. Does anybody know the number . None of you know the number. Try 8 million. Now of that 8 million, how many were children . I dont have that number. Does anybody know . None of you know. Isnt that special. Lets assume half. Okay, 8 million is for nebraska, right . For new states. Lets assume half of them are children. How many of those 8 Million People are still here . Do any of you know . Okay. How many of those 8 million are claiming asylum . You dont know . How many of them claim a smile amanda dont show up for their hearing . Nobody knows . How many of them claim asylum, dont show up for the hearing and President Biden has deported them . You dont know. How many of them have claimed asylum, shown up further asylum hearing and have been denied asylum and deported . You dont know. How many of them were from mexico . You dont know. How about 30 . That means 70 were not, right . Surely you know the answer to that. 30 minus 100 is 70 , am i right . Okay. 30 came from mexico. Why dont you implement a safe third country policy that says under asylum, under asylum rules you have to seek asylum in the first safe country. So if you come from venezuela or nicaragua or another Central American country, you have to seek asylum in the first safe country. Why dont you do that and that would eliminate 70 of the 8 million. Thats 5. 6 million. Why dont you do that . Is that a question . Yes. All ive been asking more questions. Thats beyond the purview of hsi. How about you, mr. Salazar you are a former to the Vice President. [inaudible] we are working with our partners in the region. The 21 countries signed onto the los angeles declaration. Have you done what have you been at this, two years . What we are doing is working to expand legal pathways. Why doesnt President Biden get up in the morning and say we are changing the asylum process and doing most other countries do. We have to seek asylum in the first safe country that would eliminate 5. 6 Million People coming into the country illegally, wouldnt it . There are let me ask you this because im going to run out of time. President biden and all of you believe in open borders, dont you . I ask really basic questions. I dont mean any disrespect. I appreciate you being here and i know you all love our country as we all do but i believe in straight answers. I like straight answers and breakfast food. Theres only two possibilities here. Either President Biden and his team believe in open borders and the people the president put in charge of the immigration policy in this country are not qualified to manage a food truck. And nobody is that incompetent. You believe in open borders, dont you . We believe in secure borders. You dont even know how im going to take 30 more seconds. You dont even know how many people have come in a illegally since President Biden has been president . You are a former Senior Advisor to the Vice President of the United States mr. Salazar, and you cant even give me a number . Thats like going to an oncologist and asking him whats cancer and he says i dont know. Give me a break. Senator welch. Thank you. I thank the witnesses. Adjust speaking to my friend, senator kennedy, this question of Border Security is one that im very concerned about and i know you are obviously. But its an astonishing situation where you have these children who are fleeing these incredible circumstances that motivated them to take this journey all the way up to this country. Theres a lot of tragedy here not caused i dont think by anybody here. Im just going to ask ms. Marcos can you describe the situations for some of these kids, where they come from, what their situation is, whats motivated them to go through the gap and walked thousands of miles or come from el salvador, guatemala, nicaragua where a lot of these kids are coming from, just tell us what your experience is with describing these kids and what their circumstances are . Thank you, senator for that question. I myself have not worked in the region, but i spent many years of my career working in and around refugee camps and with populations like the unaccompanied children who are fleeing a number of things, gang violence, extreme poverty, persecution, and we know that these are desperate situations and what our team of professionals wants to make sure that we are doing is that when they are referred to our care by dhs parameter federal entity that they are safely taken care of, that they are in and the environment that we can do full assessments if they have a risk of trafficking, if theyve been trafficked, then we make referrals to the appropriate Law Enforcement agencies. And whats the process for these kids if they are going to be sent back to their country of origin . Senator, respectfully im not probably the best person to speak to this, but certainly people fleeing horrific situations sending them back is putting their life at risk. I appreciate a lot of what senator kennedy was asking you something something that you can unilaterally do but can you describe what the situation is for some of these kids that show up and what has to happen . Sir, i actually dont know what the process is to return these individuals back to their home countries. A big increase in child labor and kids who are coming its very vulnerable to be exploited to work sometimes it its even sex trafficking. Do you have any observations or any suggestions on what to do to reduce Child Exploitation both child labor and sex exploitation as well . Thanks so much for that question, senator. So, first, i will mention that with regards to the department of labor, we are charged with enforcing our child labor laws. We have a supplemental request for 100 million, which would be 50 million for the division that does the investigation, 50 million for my office, the Solicitors Office that does all of the legal work related to the investigation as well as that enforcement work, the wage and hour it has seen a 12 a decrease in their staffing over the last several years. Over the last ten years theyve lost about 100 attorneys or about 17 of our staff with essentially flat funding so the first thing i would say is certainly funding would help. These investigations are incredibly resource intensive in terms of Human Trafficking whether its sex trafficking or labor trafficking, all of our investigators are trained to identify Human Trafficking. We also have mandatory reporting within 24 hours. We are routinely training our folks and making sure that we are aligned is a task force and working to get as much information out to our interagency partners on that work as well. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, senator welch. Senator blackburn. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for being here. This is pretty remarkable testimony coming from you all. Listening to what you had to say. Basically, weve got a broken system, you dont know how to fix it, money isnt going to solve this problem. You dont know the numbers, you dont know the law to enforce the law so what comes across is that weve got a Homeland Security team that doesnt believe in securing the homeland because you dont care enough to go deep enough into the issue to be able to define the problem and be able to fix it. Ms. Marcos, im going to come to you because ive written secretary becerra twice about these children that they just cant find. Now, first letter he got acting assistant secretary jeff hill to send a nonresponse to my office and then i sent another letter and i havent heard anything from him. I have asked that he come to the committee and talk to us about what has happened with of these 85,000 children, where they are and why efforts are not being made to find them and to be certain that they are being cared for but there is no response to that because there again, you all believe in open borders. Your goal is not to secure the country and the border. Your goal is to just let everybody come in and to hell with us trying to find 85,000 kids. You didnt vet the sponsors right and you did not do an fbi background check. Imagine that. You loose and what is required of people and then you want to come here and say we need more money so we can do our job. Ms. Director marcos, linda brand miller, do you know that name . And keep your microphone on. I am aware of the name. You are aware of that name. And jalen, you know that name . Yes. Okay. And you know that both of these women were whistleblowers and both of these women were fired for being a whistleblower. Are you aware of that . Senator, i quickly, my time is running out. Go. Im not aware of the specifics. You are not aware of the specifics. Do you know who approved their dis retaliation against the whistleblowers . You do not know. I cannot speak to the specifics. You cant speak to the specifics. Was the secretary notified about the urgent situation developing in the department and that these children were being released to potentially exploited have sponsors . Did anybody Pay Attention to that . Where did you care . Did your paycheck go on, we dont care, we are not concerned about an open border. We are not concerned about protecting children. What is your job . Youre the office of Refugee Resettlement and youre not going to follow up on where these children are and who has custody of these children . Why did you accept the responsibility to be in charge if youre not going to do your job and protect these children . You dont have an answer to that . You dont know when you accepted the responsibility . This is why we need the secretary. I gave you tell me why did you take the job . I took the job because im a humanitarian. Ive spent my life a humanitarian who cant find 85,000 children and do not give a flip about where they are or what is going on in their precious lives is that what youre telling me . That is a mischaracterization of everything that we do. I have tried to explain, but i am not given the opportunity. 25 seconds. When a child is released from our care there are a number of ways they can continue to receive services. We attempt the safety and wellbeing call for every child whos been released. There is no obligation for a child or sponsor to answer the call and theres reasons why they may not want to answer the call from the government. They are being paid to take these children and there is no reason for them to answer the phone . They are not being paid to take these children. May i finish . They also post release services over 50 of the children we are working hard to get post release services for all children. We are over 50 right now. That is another way to have a trusted adult in these childrens lives. Legal services is another and we are expanding and providing more services my time has expired and your answers are incomplete. Ive got two more questions i will submit for the record. Mr. Moran, i have one for you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, ms. Blackburn. At this point i want to make sure ms. Marcos or someone else on the panel has an opportunity to answer in complete sentences questions about the 85,000 that were mentioned in the New York Times. What is someone like to take that on for 60 seconds . Thank you, senator for the opportunity to i have full thoughts on that. There are a number of ways that we engage with children once they have been released from our care. One way is the safety and wellbeing call that is made 30 to 37 days after they have been released. There is no obligation for a child or sponsor to answer this call and there is a number of reasons why they might not want to answer a call from government. We also have a number of other touch points. Some of them lighter than others. We have the National Call center. That is the call center that is operated a 24 hours a day, seven days a week that takes calls from children, from sponsors, from anyone in the communities that has the concern or a question about an unaccompanied child. So that call center is available and then as i mentioned, we are providing more legal and post release services in the history of the program. We are very dedicated to continuing to expand that with of the support of congress and we do feel that it will make a difference by making sure that every one of these children has that trusted adult outside of the sponsor family relationship. Thank you. Next senator up is history in the making. Her first appearance before the Senate Judiciary committee succeeding senator dianne feinstein. As i said at the outset, this is an issue the state of these children near and dear to the heart of the lead to senator. I know you come to this meeting today with the same feelings so we welcome you. Please proceed. Thank you so much, chair durbin. As noted the senator from the border state, former labor organizer and a mom to a 9yearold, not only am i eager to continue the leadership of senator feinstein on this issue, i find it imperative that we have this conversation. I appreciate the chair for bringing us all together to do that important work. Contrary to what we may have heard, the struggle to protect my grandchildren is not new. We see it under both democratic and republican controlled administrations. I hope today that we can agree on the fact that no matter what party is in power, our job is to do our part to protect these my grandchildren. This means listening to experts, giving agencies the resources they need and Holding Companies accountable for violating our labor laws. I look forward to working with my colleagues to find Bipartisan Solutions and i appreciate all of you for your testimony as i have read all of your prepared remarks and look forward to a discussion. I would love to turn my attention to a topic that you were just speaking on post release services. As you know, legal representation is vital for children attempting to navigate our complicated immigration system. Weve heard reports of children as young as to, 2yearsold, being asked to represent themselves in our immigration courts because they are not provided with counsel by the government. Some of my colleagues may not believe that government should provide counsel to all imMigrant Children even those who are barely old enough to speak. Can you talk about the impact that it makes on my grandchildren to have the type of Legal Services and support available in our immigration system . Thank you, senator. As you mentioned, there are children of all ages in our care. We know that its extremely important to help children successfully navigate the system, that they have legal representation. We also know that children are more likely to show up for their Court Hearing if they have legal representation. Many, most of the children screamed actually would have a pathway and we could move things if we had more Legal Service providers. We are working and we are expanding every child in our care has a get to know your rights presentation and get a legal screening while they are in our care. Once they are discharged there is a referral. What we dont have yet is sufficient funding and resources to make sure that every child maintains legal representation once they are discharged from our care. Thank you for that. Let me quickly turn to mr. Moran. I understand that hr to come House Republican bill hr to would decimate an important form of immigration relief known as special immigrant juvenile status. Can you speak to the importance of having pathways like tvs and special immigrant visa status to child trafficking survivors and what we are likely to see if legislation like that were actually able to succeed . Thank you for that question. The Department Takes the victim centered approach. We would like to provide every tool possible to aid the victims and their path to recovery. Your specific question stands to another agency in the department so i would need to take that back. Thank you. Last question talked about the impact of the topic on my home state of california. California consistently being one of the top three states receiving unaccompanied minors. In 2020 Governor Newsom created the first project aimed at providing post Relief Services to my grandchildren called opportunities for youth. The Services Provided through the project include Case Management, navigation, mentorship, Wellness Programs to support children as well as services to their care. Can you talk about what kind of Services Offered to the 43 of children that receive postrelease support from the federal government, and do programs like the one in california actually helped to support the federal government efforts . Thank you, senator, for that question and the opportunity to talk further about what it means to have a trusted adult in a childs life and comprehensive services as these children are adjusting to a new community. Just the other day i was speaking to someone who provides post Relief Services and they talked about how that service has enabled to prevent family breakdown were to prevent the child from leaving so to have those comprehensive Case Management Services Similar to what we do with new arrivals in the Refugee Program really makes a difference in these children being allowed to be children and attend school and flourish in their community and absolutely what california is doing is very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you mr. Chair. I yield back. Thank you, senator butler. Thank you, mr. Chairman and to the witnesses. Under bidens leadership, family unit Housing Centers were shut down, Illegal Immigrants were not detained. The children became tools for criminals to avoid detention. Congress has demanded answers and weve been met with silence, delay or worse yet, a flatout refusal to take responsibility. And i want you to know that i have the same sort of outrage you heard from kennedy and blackburn. This isnt just a situation that affects the federal government and a few states at the border. This, the failures that ive talked about at the federal level have created problems for us even in iowa at the state and local level, worse yet federal government has failed these kids. So in august i wrote to iowas Law Enforcement people primarily the 99 county sheriffs. They told me that the cartels didnt just traffic humans and drugs at the border but cartels have a presence in communities across the United States and are particularly active along the major highways. In iowa we have the cj mj cartels. Now in the counties of green, g, story, marshall and polk county right at the hardware the i 35 meets i 80, those are highways that cut across the United States. This problem is not unique to iowa. These cartels are active in many states across the country, so to director moran, what steps has Homeland Security investigations taken to combat cartels in the interior of our nation and what tools would be helpful in rooting them out . Can you provide a detailed plan to congress by the end of the year to accomplish this . Thank you for that question. As to the first part of that, each side it was a very robust strategy to disrupt and dismantle the transmission of criminal organizations. We also to use a force multiplier vetted units overseas to try to push the border out to be for these crimes enter the border, so we have a very, very active criminal strategy that deals with criminal activity not only within the United States but outside of the United States. Can you provide your going to have a comprehensive plan by the end of november. Also the New York Times reported back in february that over at least two years hhs could not reach more than 85,000 children. How many of the 85,000 missing children has Homeland Security investigations and Law Enforcement partners been able to track down . Hsi response to Human Trafficking that we are made aware of and as soon we are made aware of it. That you dont have a number for us, the number that youve actually been able to track down . For specific numbers i would have to take that back. Can you get us an answer in writing . I will take that back, sir. You cant even tell me if you can get an answer the number of people thats been affected . The response will be in writing, senator. Last friday i received an hhs response to a letter that i sent back in december. The response mentions that the office of Refugee Resettlement recognized the importance of notifying local authority is when abuse and neglect of unaccompanied children as suspected or uncovered. Director marcos, how many times did or are and its third parties notify state and local authorities with concerns about possible child abuse or neglect . Thank you, senator for that question. There are numerous ways and at different time periods that a referral may be made to local Law Enforcement, hsi of the office of trafficking in person. That can happen while they are in our care. It could happen after theyve been released from our care. It can be reported by the child of themselves, by the sponsor, by the post Relief Service provider. So theres a number of different times that these reports can be made. For specific numbers i would want to be precise, so i will take that back. You said you were a humanitarian and all the people on the group would probably say the same thing. Im not going to argue with whether you are a humanitarian or not, but i hope you realize that not enforcing the law at the border puts us in a position of a life or death situation. You have people on the terrorist watch list that cant get on an airplane to come into this country, but they come across the river and get into this country. 800, 900 people die in the desert, get lost in the desert and by. We have criminals coming here and creating murders. We have raped on women coming through mexico. We have Human Trafficking. You have the fentanyl killing 112,000 people. Youre dealing with a life or death situation by not enforcing the law and the constitution says that the law should be faithfully executed and they arent. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, senator grassley. Senator holly. Can i start with you, you testified a moment ago to senator butler that every child gets a know your rights presentation is that correct . That is correct. Is that before or after you release them to labor traffickers . Senator, every child that comes into our care gets to know your rights presentation as well as have you read these New York Times reports, those stories that theyve done on the children who are in your care, have you read them . Yes, i have. Have you read children are scrubbing dishes, they are operating heavy machinery, they are delivering meals, harvesting coffee, working construction, working as housekeepers, they are working overnight shifts at plants where they are not paid, they are not going to school, they are not cared for, not given meals, almost all of it illegally, are you aware of that . That is a yes or no. Yes. Does the know your rights presentation help them in those situations . Senator, or are thats a yes or no. Do you think that you are helping by releasing them to traffickers, ed thousand whom you have no contact with you and your answer is we gave them a presentation before we turned them over to these people that are exploiting them on a scale not seen in this country for a hundred years, a century . Its a disgrace in the United States of america. Let me ask you this. You did an audit where you gave yourself a clean bill of health so tell me this do you require sponsors to document the relationship with the child . Senator, we have a thorough vetting process. Do you require them to document their relationship with the child . Yes, we go through no, you do not. Have you read the senates permanent subcommittee on investigations reports on your office . Was one in 2016, one and 2018, one in 2020, one in 2022 spanning administrations. What they found his you do not require sponsors to document the relationship with a child, you release them anyway. What about a background checks do you require background checks on all of the adults in the household . In cases where the child is being released to their parents, we do not require background checks. But, senator would you require background checks on all adults in the household in any case . Yes in some cases we do. What percentage is on the adults in the household . I dont know that number. Do you do home visits in some cases where you can see they are being released in whose care you are putting them in . We do not in all cases. I would like the opportunity to talk about what we are doing. It is incredibly and totally inadequate and we can read about it in the New York Times. Since you say youve read it, talk about that New York Times report. Heres a quote from the april 17th installment. Again and again staffers and outside contractors told hhs including reports that reach the secretary children that appear to be at risk, did you undersecretary, know that the children were not risk . Senator, i am in regular contact with the secretary. The wellbeing of children is our top priority. Im not going to get into the conversations. You are under oath and this is an oversight hearing and we need to know what youre doing because youre not doing your job do you believe the children are at risk lets start with that . Yes. Did you warn the secretary . Im not going to get into the specifics of my conversation but i would like why wouldnt he warn the secretary id like the opportunity to [inaudible] lets look at what the secretary said to you. The other one, james. At least five hhs Staff Members said they were pushed out after raising concerns about child safety. Mr. Becerra, secretary, told the director, thats you, right . That if she couldnt increase the number of discharges he would find someone who could and then he went on to say if henry ford had run his planned like this he would never have become famous and rich. This is not the way you do an Assembly Line. Get the kids out. Run them through, get them out to those sponsors. Why didnt he resign when he said this . Do you think that this is morally acceptable . Senator, i joined in september of 2022. I believe that was reported prior to my arrival. This was from an article this year. I cant speak to with the secretary do you think this is acceptable to run it like an Assembly Line and release these children to traffickers . We do not run it like an Assembly Line. The safety and wellbeing of children is our top concern. Plainly not. Plainly it is not your top concern because youve managed to lose 85,000 of them and the times knows where they are or two thirds of them and they are with labor traffickers. Its unbelievable. Let me ask you this. How many kids right now the 430,000 approximately unaccompanied children across the border into the administration, an astounding number, how many are you in regular contact with right now . Senator, we have a number of different providers across the country. What is the number, you said the Child Welfare is your top concern. Whats the number . I dont have the specific number. How can you not know . Why would you come to this hearing and not know . Respectively, if you would like us to provide comprehensive Case Management to children, after they are released from our care so we can report respectfully i would like for you to do your job and not released children to human traffickers. Respectfully thats what i would like, not facilitate the largest trafficking ring in American History. Thank you mr. Chairman. Senator. Thank you mr. Chairman and to the panelists. Director marcos, as you are aware, unaccompanied minors often end up in foster care for some time. Im currently leading an investigation in partnership with senator blackburn into allegations of abuse and neglect of children in georgias foster care system. And more broadly, into the human rights of children and foster care nationwide. What oversight do they conduct of the foster care agencies and relevant state agencies to ensure unaccompanied children are not subjected to abuse and neglect and foster care . Thank you for that question, senator. In most except florida and texas work with licensed facilities and through our federal field specialist there are Legal Services, through child advocates, children who do not have a Family Member to receive Additional Services because they are more vulnerable and they stay in care longer. What steps can you take to strengthen the protection of unaccompanied children who wind up in foster care who according to accounts in georgia are at particular risk for abuse and neglect in foster care systems . Thank you for that question. I think i have to go back to the expansion of the post Relief Services and Legal Services. Both of those services extended. As you know, these are among the most vulnerable human beings in the world, unaccompanied minors lacking guardians and language faculty and i urge you to strengthen, accelerate your efforts to ensure they are better protected and fully protected for abuse and neglect using all of the authorities at your disposal. Can you provide the committee of an update on your efforts to ensure that unaccompanied children in immigration and adjudication proceedings have access to Legal Counsel . Thank you, senator. We have more children receiving Legal Services today than the history of the program. We dont feel its enough. We are actively expanding our services. I believe 20 providers were just added. We are hoping to double that by the spring. We know how important it is to have a legal provider help the child of navigate through the system and we also know legal provisions, having the Legal Service provider will increase the likelihood children attend their hearings so we are very much with the support of congress expanding Legal Services and postrelease services both of which will make a difference. Its difficult to imagine the confusion and fear and pain of the child having to navigate complex hostile Legal Proceedings that impact their future in dramatic ways with no parent, no guardian, no lawyer. Will you please provide specific information and metrics so we can understand what progress is being made to meet the targets for the provision of Legal Counsel to children and immigration proceedings . I will take that back and ask for continued support to congress will you provide the numbers to the committee a yes or no. May i ask for the specific numbers you are requesting . I would like for you to provided to the committee numbers that demonstrate the progress made to provide more unaccompanied minors with Legal Counsel . Yes. As you know unaccompanied children are vulnerable to labor exploitation pressured into working grueling hours what do you see as the role and what more can this body do to protect these children from labor exploitation . Thank you, senator. I think as we have said before, this is a whole of society approach. We need everyone working on this. It isnt one quick fix or it would have been done. In terms of or are, what we can do is continue to work with our colleagues at the department of labor, the expansion of Legal Services which does require funding and thats where congress can help. Id like you to provide Technical Advice to the committee on how we can amend relevant statutes to end power to protect these children will you do that please . Thank you ms. Marcos. I might say to my friend from georgia that i commend to him a bill entitled protecting unaccompanied children act providing legal representation for all unaccompanied children with five or six other provisions i hope you will take a look at. Senator tillis. Thank you all for being here and director, over the course of the Biden Administration, is the estimate right or approximately 430,000 unaccompanied minors whove been placed is roughly accurate . Roughly accurate. Can you give me an idea with Standard Operating Procedures . After youve made the decision to place this child what are the Standard Operating Procedures say over the course of the year following in terms of im trying to get a sense of exactly what role you play after placement. Thank you, senator. And this is where we are going beyond what is required of us right now. But we know that its not enough. Everyone on our team wants i understand. I really want to go back and there was a comment made with that i think is very important i think you can apply the same logic to asylum proceedings when we find out about 80 are add adjudicate it as not having a valid basis for granting asylum. I think that it would seem logical given the numbers we are talking about over time. About 80 of the unaccompanied children, someone made the comment they are escaping dangerous settings and many of them are, but many of them are trying to get into a country of opportunity. We should take that as a compliment but in reality its a bit of you and insult in terms of how they get there. The parents and Family Members are paying money to the cartels into they are making almost a billion dollars a year and Human Trafficking. People are getting hurt, traumatized and others are dying. So i think one thing we need to do, one reason you cant really do what you want to do you have too many and that isnt your problem to fix, thats the problem of the administration to fix because when the Biden Administration came and we saw nearly a fourfold increase in the border crossings. The area that im most concerned with is the god of ways. One of the concerns i have with the 430,000 unaccompanied minors whove been placed is there going into communities where since President Biden has taken office, 1. 5 million got a ways are gone. Why would anybody choose to try to evade apprehension at the border based on the way the United States is dealing with people who come across the border illegally why would anybody do that unless they had a nefarious reasons or some background that they didnt want to have known when they are apprehended and they are being vetted by customs or Border Patrol . These are dangerous people going into these community. I talk with sheriffs all the time and talked with senator grassley that not all of them, some of them might just be down and not recognize how easy it is to present yourself at a border to Border Patrol agencies, but many of them have to be here for maligned purposes. Many of them go to the Community Communities they identify with and exploit these unaccompanied children and the community as a whole. So, going back, lets say could you do that comprehensive Case Management if the volume you were dealing with was 20 of what youre dealing with today . If the current funding, current resources, you have only one in five as many to deal with in a given day what would that look like in terms of true responsible and engaged Case Management for unaccompanied minors that have been placed . Senator, i would have to yes of course. It would probably include the situation. So i guess the point here, im not going to flog you for executing policies that have been decided by the white house. I am holding President Biden responsible for many of the situations we have for Child Exploitation, because he simply let the system get overwhelmed. Now, for people to say that Congress Needs to pass new laws, explain to me how we havent repealed any walls, but in the year following trump transitioning and i disagree with trump i think we have to have more pathways to citizenship. More guestworker programs and opportunities for people who really want the economic advantages of the United States to have the opportunity to do it. But this president has made it virtually impossible for us to talk about improving. One of the processes youre going through because he simply multiplied the problem by almost a factor of fourfold. If again you can extend the assumption that if 80 of the people are ultimately out adjudicated do not have a viable asylum, probably 80 of the unaccompanied children are not here because they are escaping oppression or fear of the country they came from but because they want economic opportunity. But what that is doing is making it more difficult or virtually impossible for you to provide the kind of care for those young people who truly need the support of the United States and safe placement in the community and continuous tracking while they are minors. So, mr. Chair, i hope that we get back to a reasonable discussion about Immigration Reform and about the path to citizenship but until this administration wakes up to the problem that theyve created by rescinding policies that would work in our administration all we will do is have shouting matches and the ones who lose are the children who are being exploited. Thank you. Thank you, senator. I do look forward to working with you on that project here in the Judiciary Committee and i think between the chairman, senator durbin and the Ranking Member senator graham, both have very strong and long lasting and sincere commitments to try to do bipartisan Immigration Reform demonstrated by our actions. So i think we have a prospect and that we are able to take advantage of it. Director marcos, i also want to mention i was going to ask a series of questions about the facility in greensboro i think it is in cold status now. I want to talk about that and understand when it can be activated so those will be submitted for the record. You are most welcome. Let me just as ms. Marcos, i understand that hhs and dol have been working together to find ways to address the labor exploitation of unaccompanied children. Can you describe those efforts, how is it going, where are you so far and what can congress do to facilitate your work . I am happy to start. Thank you so much, senator whitehouse. So, the task force that is being led by the department of labor has acted engagement with a number of other federal agencies that includes my colleagues from state, my colleagues from dhs and hhs but also the department of education and the department of commerce, usda, the department of justice. Weve taken many steps and i say overall are focused on crosstraining of the staff doing outreach together making sure that we are getting cereals out and actually reaching vulnerable workers where they are and also education all aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of children and children that may be extremely vulnerable. In terms of some specific work that weve done in particular, we entered into a memorandum of understanding in march of this year that is aimed at improving and deepening our longstanding relationship that weve had with hhs. This means that we are coordinating on information potentially about child labor investigations. We are assisting in identifications where we have hhs assisting us in the identification of Supportive Services for victims or children that we may encounter in our investigation. It means that we may be sharing trends in child labor that we are both respectively seeing that will help both of us in our work respectively. So a lot of relevant information is being shared. Relationships are being deep in the end we continue to deepen our work both with hhs and other members of the task force. Ms. Marcos, anything to add . Thank you, senator. As she mentioned, much stronger coordination both at the leadership level but also in the Different Team level with both the identification but also services after an investigation concludes. I think just kind of one other thing, two other things that we have done is weve also stood up to an Accountability Team and also the National Call center makes calls back to any child whose calling with concerns to make sure that they have followup and they are receiving services. What is an Accountability Center . And Accountability Team and its looking at ways that we can continue to strengthen our sponsor vetting, and if we know that internal accountability . Yes. Okay. A terrific. Well thank you all very much. Appreciate the witnesses being here. The record of the hearing will remain open for the week if anyone wishes to add any materials to the record of the hearing or if there are questions for the record for any of our witnesses. A good strong record. You do note you, we have Better Things to do. So please be diligent and responding with that i will adjourn the hearing. Thank you all. 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