Texas advocate calls on state to protect unaccompanied minors, Texas children

(The Center Square) – After 158 U.S. House Democrats voted against deporting sex offenders, including child rapists, and one U.S. Senate Democrat blocked a bill to strengthen protections for unaccompanied minors, a Texas group is again calling on state leaders to act.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of [U.S.] Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and others, Congress is unwilling to protect children,” Sheena Rodriguez told The Center Square.

Rodriguez, the founder and director of Alliance for a Safe Texas, has been calling on the Texas legislature to strengthen state law overseeing facilities housing “unaccompanied alien children” (UACs) in Texas for roughly two years. After meeting with local officials statewide, she discovered a consistent problem: allegations of abuse and neglect of facilities housing UACs in Texas. The facilities are largely funded by taxpayer money and contracted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“What Americans may not realize,” she said, “is the facilities housing UACs run by nongovernmental organizations receiving multimillion dollar contracts with the federal government are also receiving contracts from state governments, including Texas, to house American foster care children.”

State Rep. Stan Kitzman, R-Bellville, and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, filed bills to address the issue. Kitzman’s HB 5000 advanced out of the House State Affairs Committee last year during the regular legislative session but never got a floor vote and died. Kolkhorst’s SB 572 passed the Senate but not the House. Kitzman filed another bill in the third special session, cosponsored by state Rep. Eddie Morales, D-Eagle Pass, which also went nowhere.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers also called on the Office of the Texas Attorney General to investigate claims of alleged abuse and trafficking of UACs in Texas, which went nowhere. Last year, the Texas legislative session was an extraordinary one: lawmakers were involved in a regular legislative session, four special sessions, and the impeachment and trial of the attorney general who was ultimately acquitted.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a grand jury to be convened to investigate alleged abuse of children. It conducted extensive investigations and published multiple reports. It concluded that HHS was “facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children. This process exposes children to horrifying health conditions, constant criminal threat, labor and sex trafficking, robbery, rape and other experiences not done justice by mere words.”

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody also called on Congress to investigate, which resulted in hearings, at which Rodriguez testified. UACs were placed with unrelated individuals and put in situations “where they are subject to abuse, including rape, molestation, and effectively forced to work to pay for their travel to the United States in violation of child labor laws,” Moody said.

An HHS Office of the Inspector General report also identified how HHS wasn’t vetting sponsors or protecting UACs in their care. Another IG report said that HHS couldn’t account for more than 100,000 UACs, prompting additional investigations by Congress. Still another found that several hundred thousand couldn’t be found once released into the country.

Congressional investigations led by Grassley uncovered multiple issues including UACs being released to MS-13 gang members and alleged traffickers, prompting him to file criminal complaints and Senate Republicans to propose legislatives solutions.

At the state level, an Alliance report outlines the need for state regulatory reform and the impact the facilities have on Texas communities.

Kitzman isn’t backing down and is again filing a bill next year to address the issue. It’s already gained additional bipartisan interest. At a recent Texas Senate Committee on Border Security, Rodriguez testified in support of it.

Rodriguez also testified that since 2021, 62,000 UACs were released to sponsors in Texas, according to data obtained by the New York Times from HHS. The data shows that from January 2021 through May 2023, 27,000 UACs were released to sponsors in Texas who were not their parents; over 6,400 were released to distant relatives or unrelated individuals.

She also pointed out that Texas has the greatest number of HHS-contracted facilities for UACs in the country and the most UACs are sent to Texas from the border.

No other state has nearly the number of facilities or is receiving the volume of UACs than Texas, The Center Square first reported.

At least 52 HHS-contracted facilities were operating in Texas in 2020, according to a GAO report. From fiscal 2015 to 2023, the largest number of UACs by far – 82,391 – were released into Texas, The Center Square first reported.

Texas, California and Florida have historically received the most UACs; the number exponentially increases every year. In fiscal 2015, Texas received 3,272. By fiscal 2022, 19,071, according to HHS data.

“The federal government continues to fail to protect children, taxpayers, and our communities,” Rodriguez said. “Texas is at the forefront of this crisis. We must not sit idly by. Texas must act.”

She’s again calling on Texas officials to conduct an investigation similar to Florida’s and is urging state lawmakers to support and pass Kitzman’s bill.