Judge’s Rush Is Endangering 175 Migrant Children, Says Health Agency

A California judge is endangering 2,551 migrant children by rushing their reunification with migrants who claim to be their parents, says the Department of Health and Human Services.

The discovery of fraud and deception among the adults who brought the first batch young 103 children shows that the “truncated vetting for [2,551 children aged 5 to 17] would result in HHS placing up to approximately 175 children with adults who are not their parents in the next 13 days,” said a July 13 court statement signed by Chris Meekins, a senior official in the DHHS agency.

The statement flips the claim by progressives that President Donald Trump is endangering children by separating them from their migrant parents. Trump’s deputies are now pointing out that a rush reunification carries risks for the children which progressives are claiming to champion.

Judge Dana Sabraw has set a July 26 deadline for reunifying all of 2,551 children and youths with the migrant adults who brought them into the United States. To ensure the unification, the judge is requiring that the adults be released from detention via the catch-and-release loopholes which President Donald Trump is trying to close, even their claims for asylum have not been decided.

The fast-track reunification “process will likely result in the placing of children with adults who falsely claimed to be their parents or into potentially abusive environments,” Meekins said. ‘My opinion is that the court’s truncating of the vetting process for class membership — including the elimination of the critical requirements for sponsor care plans — materially increases the risk of harm to children.”

Because of the judge’s rush, HHS officials have stopped DNA testing of migrants and children to ensure their claims of parental relationship are correct. DNA testing would take months, said Meekins.

Officials are also unable to gather data about the people whom the children will be living with, likely because many of the households include other illegal immigrants who want to hide their identity from the federal government.

For example, one child from El Salvador was reunited with her mother in Houston without a full background check on the people in her expected household. A June Washington Post report reported that the mother’s mother’s sister had already migrated illegally from El Salvador to Houston.

The agency pushback follows weeks of emotional complaints by progressive activists and media that Trump’s deputies are endangering and harming the children brought into the United States by Central American migrants.

However, the resulting spotlight exposed large-scale fraud among the migrants who are described as victims by progressives.

The White House detailed criminal, identity, and disease problems with 21 of the migrants who brought the 102 under-5 children:

11 of the illegal aliens have criminal records: 

1. Warrant for murder in Guatemala
2. Child cruelty and narcotics convictions
3. Suspected transnational criminal organization involvement and human trafficking
4. Outstanding criminal warrant in El Salvador
5. 2 DUI convictions
6. Significant criminal history including assault conviction
7. Outstanding warrant in Florida for DUI
8. DUIs, assault, stolen vehicle
9. Robbery conviction
10. Wanted by El Salvador
11. Criminal charges including assault

7 of the illegal aliens not the parents of the toddler:

12. Adult said he is uncle, not father
13. Negative DNA match, adult indicated he is not the child’s father
14. Adult said she is grandmother, not mother
15. During DNA testing, adult disclosed she is not the child’s mother
16. Negative DNA match, still under investigation
17. Adult disclosed that she is grandmother, not the parent
18. Adult presented false birth certificate, still under investigation

2 of the illegal aliens present a danger to the toddler:

19. Before court order, adult was required to submit information and fingerprints of other adults in household where she will live with the child; background check on adult male in household shows an active warrant for aggravated criminal sexual assault of a 10-year-old female.
20. Child made allegations of abuse against adult

1 of the illegal aliens has a communicable disease:

21. Parent is being treated for communicable disease in ICE custody

Moreover, Meekins reported that eight of the 102 children were reunified with parents even though the parents have not provided the needed details — such as fingerprints –regarding the cohabitants in the houses where the children will be living.

Also, agency officials did not conduct DNA tests on 12 of the 47 adults who have been given custody of the remaining children among the group of 102.

“It is not, nor should it be, our objective to reunify all 2,551 minors with the adult whom they arrived here with, because some of those adults are not their parents or pose a clear danger to the children,” said a July 13 statement from DHHS. It continued:

As we saw with the minors covered by the court case who are under age 5, and as the court has acknowledged, there are many circumstances that preclude a minor from being reunited with a parent, including when a purported parent ends up not being the parent, a parent poses a threat to the child’s well-being, or a parent is in custody elsewhere due to criminal activity.

On July 11, Attorney General Jeff Sessions released new “credible fear” guidelines which could sharply reduce the number of migrants allowed into the United States to plead for asylum. The guidelines may prevent most migrants from using the various catch-and-release rules set by progressive judges, President Barack Obama’s deputies, political activists, and their allies.