Virginia congressman introduces bill to protect unaccompanied minors who cross southern border

Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith, R-Va., has introduced the Unaccompanied Minor Placement Notification Act to protect unaccompanied minors who cross the border.  

The legislation would require the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to notify school districts in advance when an unaccompanied minor is in a United States county. 

"We've got all these unaccompanied minors coming over the border," Griffith said on the Thursday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of HHS, puts those kids with sponsors. They really don't do a good job of vetting those sponsors."

He explained that oftentimes the community doesn't know that unaccompanied minor children are in the school district. 

"They don't even tell the community they're there," Griffith said. "What happens is the children sometimes are used for labor purposes, and they're not going to school."

He said that his legislation would make sure the kids are at least getting educated while in the district. 

As of press time, the legislation has just been introduced and has not been voted on yet. 

"I don't agree with how these kids got here," he said. "But once they're here and they're under the age of 18, we have a responsibility to make sure they're safe. And we're not even doing that."