DECEMBER 9, 2015
Representative Bob Thorpe calls for investigation into UAC care in Arizona
STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – After receiving disturbing reports from constituents, and in light of the recent revelations by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe is calling for an investigation into facilities under contract by the Office of Refugee Resettlement and licensed by the State of Arizona.
Reports have been filed with local Arizona law enforcement agencies of sexual abuse, and run-aways, yet the shelters operate in secrecy. Whistleblowers associated with the facilities operating in Arizona have told horror stories about Unaccompanied Alien Children’s (UAC) welfare in Arizona shelters.
On November 27, the news organization Breitbart reported on the findings by Senators Grassley and Cornyn. That report reads in part:
“Grassley and Cornyn say a whistleblower told the committee that — based on a sampling of government data — a number of the guardians, into whose care the government placed apprehended unaccompanied alien children, had a criminal history.”
According to the whistleblower, data compiled on a subset of UAC sponsors demonstrated that at least 3,400 sponsors of 29,000 listed in a UAC database have later been determined to have criminal convictions including re-entry after deportation, DUI, burglary, distribution of narcotics, domestic violence, homicide, child molestation, and sexual assault,’ Grassley and Cornyn wrote in a letter this week to Department of Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson and Health and Human Services Sec. Sylvia Burwell.
Several of these criminal sponsors are even associated with, or actively engaged in, the practice of sex trafficking and human smuggling,’ they added.”
Workers in Arizona expressed concerns prior to the publication of the Brietbart article, saying they shared concerns for the ultimate disposition of the children housed in Arizona.
As a result, Rep. Thorpe is calling for an investigation by the State of Arizona into the shelters within our borders.
“The Senators ask hard questions of Secretary Johnson, and the people of Arizona deserve answers to those questions as they pertain to the children we are housing,” said Thorpe. “Arizonans are humane people who believe in the dignity of life. This last year, we saw border crossing double from the time of the surge. We are doing nothing to prevent these children from their dangerous trek, and once here, due to the federal government’s secrecy, there is little we can do to protect them. But we must.”
