SYRIAN REFUGEES; Congressional Record Vol. 161, No. 170

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SYRIAN REFUGEES

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from

Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 minutes.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the issue of the

Syrian refugees and the Islamic State terrorists who are coming across

our southern border and, in relation to this, the Office of Refugee

Resettlement loophole that exists there.

Also, Mr. Speaker, as I begin my remarks, I commend the House and our

Speaker for speaking out and taking an action to condemn the Paris

attacks.

This administration has announced its intention to resettle 10,000

Syrian refugees within the United States in fiscal year 2016. Now, I

want you to think about that number, 10,000 in the year 2016. They will

go to resettlement communities all across the country, if the

administration has its way.

It is important to note that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or

the ORR as it is called, does not simply resettle refugees from

overseas. In fact, the ORR has been resettling thousands of illegal

aliens that are coming across our southern border.

I want to read to you from their 2013 report to Congress:

\\\`\\\`Other Categories Eligible for Assistance and Services.

\\\[\\\[\[Page\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-161/house-section/page/H8286) \[H8286\](https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-161/house-section/page/H8286)\\\]\\\]

\\\`\\\`Certain other persons admitted to the U.S. or granted status under

other immigration categories also are eligible for refugee benefits.''

In addition, certain persons deemed to be victims of a severe form of

trafficking, though not legally admitted as refugees, are eligible for

ORR benefits to the same extent as refugees.

That is correct; the ORR resettles illegal aliens not classified as

refugees, providing another potential gateway for the Islamic State

terrorists.

Frankly, we would know more about the ORR activities if they filed

their annual reports, as required in section 413(a) of the Immigration

and Nationality Act, and did it in a timely fashion. The last report we

have from them is 2013. It is not transparent, it is not accountable,

and it cannot be trusted.

I know this firsthand, Mr. Speaker. I wrote Secretary Burwell twice

last year about resettlement activities at the ORR and have been

investigating them since July 2014, when Congressman Bridenstine and I

traveled to a UAC facility at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record those letters to Secretary

Burwell.

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, November 21, 2014.

Hon. Sylvia M. Burwell,

Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

Washington, DC.

Dear Secretary Burwell: It has come to my attention that

you have failed to submit an annual report to Congress

regarding the activities of the Office of Refugee

Resettlement (ORR) since Fiscal Year 2012. The Secretary is

required by law to submit an annual report pursuant to

Section 413(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act \\\`\\\`no

later than the January 31 following the end of each fiscal

year, . . .'' Reports had been filed annually since 1980

before abruptly stopping after the FY2012 submission.

It is important that ORR operate transparently given its

role in re-settling thousands of illegal aliens who crossed

our Southern border last summer. ORR has released more than

45,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) into our country to

adult sponsors through September 30th of this year. My home

state of Tennessee has had over 1,000 UACs released within

its borders alone. I expect a thorough update on these

activities.

I would also note that ORR's budget appears to have grown

exponentially. ORR received over $750,000,000 million in

funding in FY2012. However, HHS requested almost $1.5 billion

for ORR in its FY2015 \\\`\\\`Justification of Estimates for

Appropriations Committees''. Without annual reports being

provided to Congress as part of the oversight process, it

becomes increasingly difficult to approve requested funding.

I look forward to your immediate submission of ORR's FY2013

report to Congress. Also, I expect ORR's FY2014 report no

later than January 31, 2015, as required by law.

Sincerely,

Marsha Blackburn,

Member of Congress.

\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_

Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives,

Washington, DC, December 17, 2014.

Hon. Sylvia M. Burwell,

Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

Washington, DC.

Dear Secretary Burwell: An article titled \\\`\\\`Crossing alone:

Children fleeing to U.S. land in shadowy system'' was

published in the Houston Chronicle on May 24th, 2014. The

Chronicle's investigation revealed that over one-hundred

\\\`\\\`significant incident reports'' were obtained from the

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through a

Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) and detailed

instances where children were abused by Office of Refugee

Resettlement (ORR) staff members between March 2011 and March

2013. The article contains several troubling statements:

1) \\\`\\\`No shelter worker has been prosecuted under a 2008

federal provision that makes sexual contact with a detainee

in ORR's care a felony.''

2) \\\`\\\`Youths in ORR custody in Texas were molested as they

slept, sexually harassed and seduced by staff members during

the past decade, records from state childcare licensing

investigators and law enforcement show. They were shoved,

kicked, punched and threatened with deportation if they

reported abuses, investigators found.''

3) \\\`\\\`The Office of Refugee Resettlement relies on state

childcare licensing and local police to investigate abuses of

the children in its care, instead of notifying the FBI of

serious allegations. In the hands of local police and

prosecutors, criminal cases have crumbled because of sloppy

detective work, communication gaps with officials and

jurisdiction confusion.''

On May 17, 2012 the President issued a memorandum regarding

implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003

(PREA). The memo stated that \\\`\\\`Each agency is responsible

for, and must be accountable for, the operations of its own

confinement facilities, and each agency has extensive

expertise regarding its own facilities, particularly those

housing unique populations.''

On March 7, 2013 the President signed the Violence Against

Women Act (VAWA) into law. Section 1101 of VAWA amended PREA

as follows: \\\`\\\`Not later than 180 days after the date of

enactment of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

of 2013, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall

publish a final rule adopting national standards for the

detection, prevention, reduction and punishment of rape and

sexual assault in facilities that maintain custody of

unaccompanied alien children.''

According to the Chronicle's investigation and a letter you

received from fifty-nine House Democrats this week, your

department has still not published a final rule. This delay

directly violates Section 1101 of VAWA. Your failure to act

timely is unacceptable given the seriousness of these issues.

As a result, please provide responses and document

production, as requested, relating to the following

inquiries:

1) Has HHS published a final rule adopting final standards

for the detection, prevention, reduction and punishment of

rape and sexual assault in facilities that maintain custody

of unaccompanied children? If so, when did this occur?

2) Please explain why HHS delayed, or continues to delay,

publishing a final rule, as required by law.

3) In FY2014, ORR released 53,518 unaccompanied alien

children to sponsors within the United States. Please produce

any significant incident reports filed by, or on behalf of,

unaccompanied alien children against ORR employees in FY2014,

regardless of the format in which they are stored. If you

redact information, or are unable to produce said reports,

outline any legal privileges or exemptions the department is

relying upon.

4) Please disclose the number of ORR employees currently

being investigated by law enforcement for sexual misconduct

or abuse involving unaccompanied alien children.

5) Please disclose the number of ORR employees disciplined

or investigated by HHS for sexual misconduct or abuse of

unaccompanied alien children in FY2014.

6) What efforts has ORR undertaken to work with federal law

enforcement to prosecute employees accused of child abuse

within its facilities since 2011?

7) What initiatives has ORR undertaken on its own to

protect children from abuse within its facilities since 2011?

Please include any internal rules or memorandums that were

drafted to address this issue.

ORR's failure to timely comply with the law is unacceptable

and not in keeping with the Administration's pledges of

transparency. Please provide responses to the above

inquiries, along with requested documentation, within fifteen

days of receipt of this correspondence.

Sincerely,

Marsha Blackburn,

Member of Congress.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. We know that there are more than Mexicans and Central

Americans coming across that southern border, and we know that once

they are here, the ORR has no way of tracking them and keeping up with

them.

In April, a Judicial Watch report cited a Mexican army officer and

police inspector who advised that ISIS was operating training bases in

close proximity to the U.S. southern border. Another report from August

2014 advised that social media traffic indicated ISIS was planning to

infiltrate the southern border in order to carry out a terrorist

attack.

Due to these findings, all of our resettlement services must be

temporarily suspended. I am currently working on a solution with

several of my colleagues to address the loophole that allows

nonrefugees to be resettled.

In the past 3 weeks, Islamic State terrorists have bombed a Russian

jetliner, committed suicide bombings in Beirut, and massacred French

citizens in Paris. They are now exporting their terror. There is simply

no method that will allow us to determine with 100 percent accuracy

whether Syrians or illegal aliens that we resettle into the U.S. are

really ISIS jihadists.

Mr. Speaker, is the ISIS threat contained? No.

Can we guarantee that Syrian refugees who are resettled into the U.S.

will not commit acts of terror against Americans? No.

Do we know who these people are? No.

Are they properly vetted? No.

Would it be responsible to bring Syrian refugees into this country

after the attacks in Paris? No.

Do Americans across this country want the administration to resettle

Syrian refugees into the U.S.? No.

Is the administration dangerously naive on this policy? Absolutely.

I encourage my colleagues to look closely at the issue.

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