Josh Hawley’s Amazing Exchange With Smug HHS Official

At the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Wednesday, there were plenty of fireworks when Josh Hawley, R-MO, challenged Robin Dunn Marcos (Director of HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement) over her testimony regarding child trafficking in migrant communities.

The hearing’s topic was “Ensuring Safety and Well-Being for Unaccompanied Children.” Hawley was not impressed by Marcos’s statement and apparent lack of accountability. Marcos, who made headlines earlier this summer when she told the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs her department had lost touch with more than 85,000 unaccompanied children, did not impress Hawley.

Hawley began the heated exchange by questioning Marcos about her department’s policy of giving a “Know Your Rights Presentation” to each migrant child. Senator Hawley wanted to know whether the presentation was given “before or afterward” HHS released them to labor traffickers. Marcos stammered through an answer. Hawley then asked if Marcos had read the New York Times articles which documented the fates of 85,000 of these children that HHS has released into unreliable situations.

In a rare instance of journalism, The New York Times has revealed the fate of many of these children when they leave HHS custody. Hawley claims that the children, when referring to these articles, are forced to do things like wash dishes, operate heavy machinery, deliver meals, harvest coffee, work construction, be housekeepers, and work overnight shifts in plants. He concluded: “They’re not paid, aren’t going to school, aren’t cared for, and aren’t given meals… almost all illegally.”

Marcos admitted that she read the article, but she didn’t take responsibility when she began to ask for money. Hawley had none of it, and cut in again with this scathing reply.

Respectfully, I’d like you to do what you are supposed to and not give children to human traffickers. That is what I want. “I would like you to not facilitate the largest child-trafficking ring in American history.”

You should watch it:

Hawley is one of the most vocal Republicans criticizing the Biden Administration’s failed border policies. Hawley has recently been criticizing DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his agency’s lax rules of enforcement at the southern border. This is especially in light of the terrorist attacks that occurred in Israel on October 7. Hawley wrote Mayorkas: “I am concerned about the increase in illegal aliens suspected of being linked to terrorists at the southern border.” This is a development that follows the horrific attack by Hamas terrorists against innocent American and Israeli citizens.

Biden’s inability to secure the border is causing a growing list of problems. Unknown numbers of illegals are flooding the communities of the United States, and the government has done little to no follow-up. Mules bring many of these children across the border and then leave them there to face whatever fate awaits. Josh Hawley explains that what they face is often a harsh existence.