WHERE ARE THE KIDS? The federal government has sent at least 139 minors who entered to country illegal to Iowa without telling state officials. Now they won’t say where the minors are or who is taking care of them
Federal officials won’t answer questions about immigrant children in Iowa
By Watchdog.org - Paul Brennan | Iowa Watchdog——Bio and Archives--July 24, 2014
DES MOINES, Iowa — An irked Gov. Terry Branstad and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, are still waiting to learn the whereabouts of 139 immigrant children placed without notice by federal immigration officials somewhere in the state.
On Tuesday, top state officials learned of the number of minors from reporters asking Branstad’s and Grassley’s offices for details of their placement. They have so far learned nothing else.
“The federal government didn’t notify the state of the placements until we attempted to confirm the number from the press inquiry,” Branstad’s spokesman, Jimmy Centers, told Iowa Watchdog. “We’ve asked for further clarification from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House, but have not received any response.”
Unaccompanied minors entering the United States illegally and picked up by the border patrol are turned over to HHS, which attempts to place them with relatives already in the country or sponsors until an immigration court hears their case, a process that usually takes years.
“Senator Grassley has asked several times whom the federal government is placing these young people in the care of, but has yet to receive answers,” Grassley’s spokeswoman, Beth Levy, told Iowa Watchdog.
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