Posted on 07/05/2018 10:56:48 AM PDT by xzins
Contrary to reports of mass confusion at the Southwest Border, where the Department of Health and Human Services is under a court order to reunite children with the parents who brought them here illegally, "there is no confusion whatsoever," HHS Secretary Alex Azar told Fox News Thursday morning.
Azar said his department is working against a court-imposed deadline to reunite the 11,800 children with the people who are claiming to be their parents. The process includes DNA testing.
"Every child is accounted for," Azar said. "We know every child, where they are. We know the record -- the last time any kids had their fingernails clipped. We have comprehensive records on 11,800 kids in our care and custody."
The court has imposed what Azar called an "artificial deadline."
"We'll comply with the court's order. Our instructions are clear, our path is clear, we're executing against it. There's no confusion whatsoever."
Azar said child welfare comes first, and he said HHS has dealt with "hundreds of thousands" of separated children in recent years. Some of those children came here illegally with their parents; others were sent here without their parents.
Azar said HHS normally does not send children into the custody of the Department of Homeland Security, because a court order says family units in DHS custody can be detained for no longer than 20 days. Normally, he said, children who cross illegally are separated from their parents and put in HHS custody, but a recent court order ordered HHS to send the children back to their parents being held by DHS.
"Now, we will work with the court -- we are doing so today to get clarification and hopefully support from the court to allow us to do our job -- to ensure that in fact these are parents of the children. And ensure that they are suitable individuals to go back to," Azar said.
"We're doing DNA testing on everybody who claims to be the parent of one of our children to confirm that. We check birth certificates. We have surged 230 HHS people and contractors out to ICE facilities to sit with the parents to get information to prove suitability and parentage of them to work through this process. Because what we care about is the kids' welfare."
Azar said he learned just this morning about two children, both under four years old, whose "purported parents" have been charged with, or convicted of, rape, kidnapping, child abuse and narcotics violations:
"We are supporting child welfare and working to protect these kids. So it may seem easy -- 'Oh, why don't you just send these kids back over to ICE and reunify these families.'
"We have a vital and historic mission here to protect these children, to make sure that these are in fact their parents, and make sure that it is a safe environment that we're placing them back into, and we use every minute of time the court gives us against its deadline to ensure that that mission of child welfare and support for these kids is fulfilled."
A wall would sure help with that.
Agreed. It would be nice to stop those who slip through...like Congress building a WALL!
The court ruled on the travel ban. There are a number of federal injuctions requiring these illegals be processed a certain way.
The Wall is the issue.
[ Push them all back into Mexico and let the Mexicans sort it out. ]
Funny how not one Mexican or Central American seems to want to go to the child friendly socialist UTOPIA of Venezuela...
Yep. Unreasonable search and seizure or something like that.
All a waste of time and money.
Why the Republicans are letting everyone think all this started only a few weeks ago is beyond me.
How can anyone expect the liberals to stop being hypocrites and double standards if they keep getting away with it?
The wet-noodle Republicans are actually quite embarrassing.
Good.
If only we had a wall, and a station on MEXICO’S side where families could do all their testing and paperwork OVER THERE to present them to US authorities to await potential refugee status. You know, as if we had any, how you say, standards??
What about the “honor system”!!!???
What, just because they’re hispanics, are they lying??
Yep, bet that at least 1/3 of these kids are being handled by someone that isn’t their actual parent.
The drug cartels are no doubt very disappointed that their political contributions in the USA aren’t doing more for their cause!
[ How the hell did I turn out to be one of the very FEW SANE people in my family????
You might need to get one of the family DNA tests. LOL. ]
And SUE the hell out of the Hospital for mixing me up with some other baby in the nursery!!!
Actually the Supreme Court “trumps” ALL OTHER LOWER COURTS. Where is Jeff Sessions to throw out these injunctions? Is he hiding again in the women’s rest stall?
?
You could write a novel about it.
[ Good.
If only we had a wall, and a station on MEXICO’S side where families could do all their testing and paperwork OVER THERE to present them to US authorities to await potential refugee status. You know, as if we had any, how you say, standards?? ]
I remember seeing a map that had 4-5 asylum centers in mexico near the border....
At least this week they do...
.
And they’ll claim transgender border bigotry
This is the court order fallout. This is what they wanted. You can’t legally reunite a child with a parent, unless you know for sure that it’s their parent.
This is just court order compliance, imo.
My guess is that the left doesn’t like it because the DNA testing will be revealing in many ways.
the big problem is the 10,000 kids with no parent.
Saying, “we’ll put them in foster care” is cruel to the parents who are in grief in their home countries wondering what happened to their kids.
Can’t wait for the first DNA Test that shows a Kid distantly related to George Washington.
One great thing about the WALL. Our President has clearly and unequivocally promised to shut the government down if the Wall is not FULLY funded in September. THIS SEPTEMBER!! That is SO great. Not to keep that promise, right before the mid term election would doom the party. So Im not worried about that funding . He simply refuses to sign the spending bill until the WALL 65 million peopled voted for, is completely funded, or the government (non essential elements) is closed. I oppose paying bureaucrats to not work during the shut down . If they come and work voluntarily then I propose back pay when the government reopens.
CNN actually picked up the story but predictably they have left out the part about rescuing kids and have instead tried to make it sound like this was yet another evil oppression :(
Note that the Marxist Liberal Left and their cohorts in the MSM aren’t talking about all the diseases these illegals are bringing into the United States, e.g., unaccompanied minors and even the ones with parents!!! I hear the detention centers are full of diseases that these kids are being treated for.
This is a HUGE issue and should be part of the border wall discussion. And, BTW, the US taxpayers are “on the hook for” and paying for the medical care all these illegals are getting. How many American children have no medical coverage?? Perhaps the RATs and RINOs in Congress would like to explain and comment on the issue?
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