The same day that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra faced criticism on Capitol Hill from members of both parties about reports of underage migrants working dangerous jobs, Labor Department officials announced a 44% increase in the number of children it found to be employed illegally.
During a hearing Wednesday on immigrant child labor, Rep. Anna Eshoo, D.-Calif, told Becerra that she was not satisfied with his agency’s response to questions she and 25 other House members had sent him in late May. After reports of child labor surfaced, they sent Becerra a letter asking about how carefully HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which finds homes for unaccompanied migrant minors, was vetting the sponsors who were offering to host the children.
“If ORR is ‘meeting and exceeding its statutory requirements,’ why are we witnessing such an alarming rise in the exploitation of children discharged from the agency’s custody?” she asked.
Becerra acknowledged during the hearing of the oversight subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee that the reports of child labor are “real” and “repulsive” and acknowledged that unaccompanied minors are uniquely vulnerable to dangerous jobs, but also pushed back. He said the agency’s vetting of sponsors remains thorough and agency oversight legally ends once children leave ORR’s care and are placed with a sponsor.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra testifies during House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via AP file
“Once we release that child into the hands of a vetted sponsor we lose that custodial responsibility,” Becerra told the committee. “If Congress wants to give us more responsibility to watch over these kids even after they have been assigned to a sponsor, please go right ahead.”
More than 260,000 unaccompanied migrant children have passed through ORR and been released to communities in 2021 and 2022, according to HHS figures.
In response to criticism, HHS announced a new accountability team in June for “assessing and addressing potential child exploitation risks” with the unaccompanied children program.
