Sen. Coburn: Why Don’t We Verify Immigration Status of Sponsors for Unaccompanied Children?

Department of Health and Human Services official Mark Greenburg stated during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday that, when placing unaccompanied, illegal immigrant children into homes to await their respective deportation hearings, the department does not verify nor take into account the legal status of sponsors. Committee member Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., remarked that, if a child were to stay with sponsors who “in fact, are not here legally” and would thus fear exposing themselves, the likelihood that child will appear in court will be “markedly diminished.”