Ex-Democrat and now Independent West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is leading 45 Senate GOP colleagues on a resolution to overturn a Biden administration rule regarding the care of unaccompanied migrant children.
Manchin charges a Department of Health and Human Services mandate would allow for lax or optional vetting of sponsors for migrant kids — and wouldn't require that a sponsor's criminal history, including drug abuse, abuse or neglect, be necessarily disqualifying.
"We have a crisis at our southern border and its human impacts are absolutely devastating," Manchin said in a statement.
"I have repeatedly called on President [Joe] Biden to use his executive powers to shut it down and address the cycles of exploitation that illegal immigration empowers," he said. "Instead, the Administration is allowing rules like this one to jeopardize the safety of migrant children and trust them in the hands of unvetted sponsors."
Manchin's office said the administration's rule would not require a sponsor to share their immigration status with law enforcement and would implement "weak standards" for post-release home studies to determine a child migrant's welfare while in a sponsor's custody, The Hill reported.
Manchin also objects to restrictions on whistleblowers' rights to disclose to Congress, and the HHS inspector general, any information about misconduct in the program.
According to The Hill, HHS asserts when immigration authorities apprehend a child entering the country without a parent or legal guardian, they transfer the child to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement until there's a sponsor — usually a family member — to take the child and wait for court proceedings.
HHS officials have touted their new rule as an improvement over a 1997 agreement — and claim it sets improved standards for placement and release of unaccompanied kids, and for emergency, transportation and monitoring requirements.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra declared the new rule "underscores HHS' unwavering commitment to the health, safety, and welfare of unaccompanied children in our care."
Manchin can force a vote regardless of objections, and it can't be filibustered as a delay tactic, The Hill noted.
The resolution would need to be passed by both the Senate and House and signed by the President to overturn the current rule, the outlet noted.