Biden's HHS must clarify border policy
A drop-off of a few children from the border at MercyFirst in Syosset drew sensationalized attention. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Three weeks ago a few youngsters, mostly from Central America, disembarked a bus late at night at MercyFirst in Syosset, a long-established Catholic nonprofit foster care center.
The drop-off apparently was uneventful and the number of kids could be counted on one hand. But the matter drew outsized, sensationalized attention — simply because they were the latest among unaccompanied children to arrive in recent years from across the southern U.S. border.
Apparently the hour of the trip grew late that day because that’s just how the chartered flights are sometimes run or scheduled, this one into the Westchester County airport, which has seen such unremarkable flights before.
That is, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or ORR, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, brings unaccompanied minors, supervised by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to places to stay temporarily before being released to parents or sponsors. They’ve worked with MercyFirst since 2014.
All these minors get vaccinated against COVID-19, officials say.
Nowadays it’s easy to see how a yearsold humanitarian operation gets whipped into a frenzy of rumor and fearful suspicion as part of our overwrought political conversation about immigration.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) complained: "We have no concrete information about what sort of vetting these migrants have gone through, why they are being relocated, where they will stay, who was involved in this decision-making process and so much more."
He’s right that more information is needed. President Joe Biden’s HHS and other agencies should respond by answering detailed questions about these operations. Otherwise, his policies run more risk of being seen as furtive or worse.
Biden’s border policies from the start have felt improvised, with bad visuals such as U.S. Border Patrol using horses to corral Haitian migrants at Del Rio, Texas. Biden condemned this, but what his team expected instead is unclear.
Also hazy are full details of how the administration plans to meet its vow to compensate families separated during the last administration, in response to a federal lawsuit pending in San Diego, and for how much.
Comprehensive immigration reform has eluded Washington for decades, but its absence is no excuse for the day-to-day confusion amid a wave of those escaping hostile conditions in their native nations.
Even if hard facts might result in valid criticism of the federal government’s performance, the White House should reveal them in real time.
Border policies should be painstakingly explained and communicated to Congress and to local officials so people can judge them realistically. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) says he’s been looking to meet with DHS and the Department of Education regarding unaccompanied minors on Long Island. They should accommodate him.
Lack of clarity on this web of operational issues would spell failure.
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