The Heart for Immigration Research has sued the federal Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) for the information relating to its administration of the Unaccompanied Kids (UAC) program. Our analysis and quite a few studies from whistleblowers, media shops, and congressional committees have revealed the damaging flaws and repercussions of HHS’s administration and oversight of the UAC program. This company’s negligence has uncovered tens of hundreds of minors to abuse, exploitation, and trafficking after their launch from authorities custody. Many features of this program have been shrouded in secrecy, leaving state and native officers unaware of potential issues inside their jurisdictions, and shielding HHS and its contractors from accountability.

Pursuant to the Freedom of Data Act (FOIA) course of, we’re looking for the next information:

• All “Notifications of Concern” Since 2021. On the workplace of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the company inside HHS that manages the UAC program, a Notification of Concern is “an instrument utilized by dwelling examine and PRS suppliers, ORR care suppliers, and the ORR Nationwide Name Heart workers to doc and notify ORR of sure considerations that come up after a baby is launched from ORR care and custody.” CIS believes the disclosure of those Notifications of Concern will present Congress, policymakers, and the general public with info wanted to know the themes and tendencies relating to the severity, frequency, and geographic areas of unaccompanied alien youngsters (UAC) experiencing harms or danger to their lives and security. It’ll additionally assist the general public perceive whether or not sponsors are being correctly vetted and whether or not the federal government and its contractors are appropriately mitigating harms and dangers that UACs are being uncovered to.
• The Zip Code for Every Launched UAC Whom HHS Has Been Unable to Contact. CIS believes the disclosure of those requested information will present the general public, together with legislation enforcement and policymakers, with the knowledge to know whether or not there are any themes and tendencies relating to the frequency and geographic areas of the greater than 85,000 “lacking” UACs. The requested information can even present an up-to-date variety of “lacking” UACs since 2021. Moreover, by offering the zip codes of the final recognized location of the “lacking” UACs, Congress, policymakers, and the general public can determine which communities have been most affected, which might lead to higher useful resource administration, in addition to extra direct and localized coverage modifications and oversight.
• HHS’s Contract Agreements with Companies Relating to the Care of UACs. CIS believes the disclosure of those requested information will present Congress, policymakers, and the general public with the knowledge to know the extent of care that was purported to be supplied to UACs below the contracts, who was answerable for offering that care, and the related liabilities for failing to offer the set stage of care. Moreover, the discharge of the information related to the contracts’ deliverables and progress studies will present the general public insights into whether or not the contracts had been adequately fulfilled and/or managed by the federal government. Lastly, taxpayers have a big acknowledged curiosity in understanding whether or not lots of of tens of millions of taxpayer {dollars} are being appropriately administered to applications and contracts related to the sheltering, oversight, and transportation of UACs within the federal authorities’s care. Many of those related contracts are “sole supply” contracts, which means there was no aggressive course of in awarding them. Many awardees of those contracts proceed to obtain federal funding and renewed federal contracts involving UACs, which mustn’t proceed whether it is proven such contractors didn’t abide by the requirements established within the contracts.

As information are disclosed ensuing from these lawsuits, CIS will publish updates relating to their contents, and can launch information to the general public for additional evaluate and investigation.

Background. In 2023, HHS and its subcomponent, ORR, had been on the heart of many controversies relating to their involvement within the Unaccompanied Kids Program, which is meant to offer enough care to lots of of hundreds of UACs who illegally entered the USA. Beneath the Unaccompanied Kids Program, HHS is answerable for sheltering, offering care, and finally discovering and vetting “sponsors” to take custody of the UACs as their immigration standing is adjudicated. A “sponsor” could be a shut or distant member of the family of a UAC, or could don’t have any household relation in any respect. Resulting from coverage modifications beginning in 2021, it seems HHS and its contractors could have begun improperly prioritizing the velocity with which they transferred custody of UACs to sponsors over the thoroughness of the vetting of these sponsors.

Due to whistleblowers, media shops, and congressional hearings, the general public is starting to see the damaging flaws in HHS’s administration and oversight of the Unaccompanied Kids Program. For instance, in 2023 the general public discovered:

• Within the final two years, HHS has misplaced contact with over 85,000 UACs after they had been transferred to sponsors.
• Two-thirds of all UACs that depart HHS’s care work unlawful, full-time jobs, typically in factories and in hazardous circumstances.
• Caseworkers inside ORR declare that HHS often ignored apparent indicators of labor exploitation, corresponding to single sponsors sponsoring a number of UACs, “scorching spots” within the nation the place many UAC sponsors will not be the kids’s dad and mom, UACs with important money owed, and direct studies of trafficking.
• Caseworkers inside ORR declare that HHS is outsourcing the care of UACs to firms below profitable multimillion greenback contacts obtained with none expertise in baby welfare applications, with out competitors (sole supply contracts), and with unknown necessities relating to the vetting of sponsors and their related legal responsibility agreements.
• Data have been produced displaying HHS was conscious that non-public contractors, answerable for the bodily switch of UACs to their respective sponsors, had been failing to correctly examine the id of the alleged sponsor earlier than releasing the UACs into their custody.
• Caseworkers inside ORR declare that youngsters are being trafficked by means of a complicated community that begins with being recruited of their dwelling international locations, smuggled to the U.S. border, and ends when ORR delivers a baby to a sponsor — a few of whom have been discovered to be criminals, traffickers, and members of transnational felony organizations.

CIS is looking for info from whistleblowers concerning the Unaccompanied Kids Program or different applications or insurance policies regarding abuse or malfunction in America’s immigration system. You probably have such info, please contact our encrypted whistleblower e mail system at [email protected] or the whistleblower web page at our web site. CIS might help broadly distribute your info anonymously and professionally, to the general public and Congress, to advertise actual coverage modifications.