{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/capito-joins-colleagues-in-calling-out-abuses-in-biden-harris-unaccompanied-migrant-children-program", "Capito Joins Colleagues in Calling Out Abuses in Biden-Harris Unaccompanied Migrant Children Program", "2024-09-27", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "WV", "Shelley Moore Capito", "C001047", "www.capito.senate.gov", "capito", "https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "CHARLESTON, W.Va. \u2013 This week, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) joined 42 bicameral Republican colleagues\u2014led by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)\u2014in a letter urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to work with Congress to root out abuses in their administration\u2019s unaccompanied migrant children program and stop the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)\u2019s cover-up of the crisis.\n\n\u201c[The Biden-Harris HHS] must stop its cover-up and cooperate with law enforcement and Congress to end this crisis and protect unaccompanied children and the American people,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nProgram Abuse:\n\nMore than 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children have crossed the southwest border under the Biden-Harris administration, while cartel trafficking activity surged an estimated 2,500%. Amid this crisis, the lawmakers note that the Biden-Harris administration limited background checks for sponsors of unaccompanied children, cut back on familial DNA testing at the border, and decreased information sharing with law enforcement.\n\nIn addition to hampering DHS\u2019s child exploitation investigation, the Biden-Harris administration blatantly ignored oversight conducted by Congress and the Office of the Inspector General. In December 2023, Senator Capito joined Senator Grassley and 37 other Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families asking the agencies to discard a Proposed Rule that abdicated ORR\u2019s responsibility protecting the vulnerable children in its custody from harmful behavior by poorly vetted, potential criminals. This Proposed Rule was finalized in April 2024, and in response Senator Capito joined her Republican colleagues in introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to strike down this negligent and dangerous rule.\n\nSeeking Solutions:\n\nThe lawmakers are urging President Biden and Vice President Harris to \u201cmake changes to [their] policies and procedures\u201d in order to \u201cend this public safety crisis.\u201d They are specifically calling on the Biden-Harris administration to enhance information sharing with law enforcement and Congress, fully cooperate with DHS\u2019s child exploitation investigation, and thoroughly respond to all congressional oversight requests.\n\nFull text of the bicameral letter can be found here.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/capito-joins-colleagues-in-calling-out-abuses-in-biden-harris-unaccompanied-migrant-children-program"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7920060306787491, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}