Letter to the Honorable Lamar Alexander, Chairman, and the Honorable Patty Murray, Ranking Member of Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee - Oversight Hearing on Trump Administration's Separated Families

Letter

Dear Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Murray:

We write to respectfully request an oversight hearing regarding the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services to care for children separated from their families as a result of the administration's "Zero Tolerance" policy and to reunite them with their parents as required by the President's subsequent directive, as well as a federal court order. As you know, Secretary Azar asked Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Kadlec to assist the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) with the reunification effort, and hundreds of the Department's staff were detailed to support this work.

We are troubled by press reports regarding the challenges the Department has faced in reporting the number of children who must be reunited, as well as locating their parents. We are concerned that the Department was unable to initially meet a court-imposed deadline to reunite the youngest of the affected children with their families. With many children still in the care of ORR and awaiting reunification with their families, including parents who may have been deported to their countries of origin, we believe the Committee must take the opportunity to understand how the Department intends to expeditiously complete the remaining reunification efforts.

Furthermore, we believe the Committee has a responsibility to examine the standards of care, staffing ratios, credentials for contractors and other conditions and practices at ORR facilities, to ensure that the remaining children -- as well as the truly unaccompanied minors in the Office's custody -- are appropriately cared for.

Thank you again for your consideration of this request. We look forward to working with you to focus on this urgent health and humanitarian concern.