Chair of key House oversight panel ‘aggressively’ monitoring HHS efforts to care for migrant children

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The chair of the House subcommittee responsible for directly overseeing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for housing thousands of migrant children arriving at the Southern border, said today that her panel is "actively and aggressively monitoring" the agency's actions to care for more than 12,000 migrant kids in its custody.

"The children who are fleeing to this country are often doing so out of desperation," said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations panel, which directly oversees HHS. "They're not criminals, they're kids fleeing for their lives. We should be doing everything we can to help them, not locking them up in filthy conditions without access to the most basic needs."

DeGette, whose panel held a hearing earlier this year on the Trump administration's family-separation policy, said that she's particularly concerned about HHS and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's ability to work together, especially in the wake of yet another sudden resignation of an agency head Tuesday.

"The constant chaos at CBP has to stop," DeGette said. "CBP and HHS have to work together to care for these children. As the head of the panel that's responsible for overseeing HHS, I can tell you that we are actively and aggressively monitoring every step that it's taking to care for these kids – and those who fail to do their job will be held accountable."

DeGette's comments come in the wake of reports that more than one hundred migrant children, who had been removed from a CBP facility that was criticized for failing to provide them basic needs, such as toothpaste and soap, were moved back to that facility Tuesday.