Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary nominee and Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to “put aside” concerns about the Biden administration losing track of migrant children during questioning about so-called family separation at her Friday confirmation hearing.
Blumenthal asked the nominee if she is willing to support efforts that help reunite migrant children who were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, leading Noem to dispute the accusations that President-elect Donald Trump enacted a family separation policy during his first term. The nominee said that she is “alarmed” by the “over 300,000 children” who went missing under the Biden administration.
“Senator, the Trump administration never had a family separation policy,” Noem said. “They had a zero tolerance policy which said that our laws would be followed. What I’m alarmed by is the over 300,000 children that went missing during the Biden administration, and when we talk about children and what they’re potentially facing in this country, and the trafficking that’s going on, this administration’s lack of desire to find out where those children are or what they may be going through is alarming to me. So I want to stop that.”
“My time is expiring so I’m just gonna interrupt again with apologies to say, put aside, let’s put aside the labels, let’s put aside what happened in the past. There’s still 1,000 children who are separated and waiting to be reunited. I’d like your commitment that you’re going to continue the effort to reunite them with their parents,” Blumenthal said.
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Noem said that she cannot “put aside” concerns about the children who have been lost track of, and said keeping families together is a major concern of hers.
“Senator, keeping families together is critically important to me and this country. I’m concerned about Laken Riley’s family, that they no longer have her,” Noem answered. “I’m concerned about the fact that we no longer have her. I’m concerned that we have people in this country that don’t know where their children are or people in other countries who sent their children here and they’ve been lost by this administration. So yes, my focus will be to keep families together, we will uphold our law and we’ll make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep our children safe from the trafficking and drug epidemic that’s hit this country.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have lost track of at least 32,000 migrant children who entered the U.S. and had been released from the custody of DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2019 after they failed to appear for their court dates, according to a report by DHS’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in August. The report said that 291,000 migrant children received no court dates at all, putting them at “higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.”
HHS, the agency responsible for placing children with adult sponsors, has reunited about one-third of unaccompanied migrant children with their parents while the remainder are sent either to live with other relatives or even strangers, according to The New York Times. The Biden administration placed some of these minors in homes that were not deemed suitable for children including homes where some adults have a criminal history, according to an internal investigation by the inspector general.
Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released a report alleging that the Biden administration committed widespread “failures” that led to widespread abuse and exploitation of migrant children.
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