Senate Approves Feinstein Provisions on Unaccompanied Alien Minors and Information Sharing as part of Homeland Security Bill

Senate Approves Feinstein Provisions on Unaccompanied Alien Minors and Information Sharing as part of Homeland Security Bill
November 15, 2002

Washington, DC - The Senate today approved measures sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that would move responsibility for unaccompanied alien children to an office in the Department of Health and Human Services and would improve how critical security information is shared by local, state, and federal governments. These provisions were approved as part of the legislation establishing a Department of Homeland Security, which the Senate approved today.

The first measure would transfer the authority over the care and custody of unaccompanied alien children who are not criminals and who do not pose a threat to our national security from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services. It would also require the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement to develop a plan on how to ensure that unaccompanied children may gain access to counsel.

"The good news is that legislation transfers responsibility for unaccompanied minors from INS into the refugee resettlement agency within HHS," Senator Feinstein said. "The bad news is that the provisions to provide them the critical help they need are left out. There is no provision for pro-bono council and no provision for a guardian ad litem. The only provision in the bill is that department is mandated to explore how a child can obtain extra help. Frankly this is a very weak provision, and it is my intention to reintroduce stronger legislation in the next session."

Last year, approximately 5,300 unaccompanied children came to the United States, including many who were traumatized and exploited. Of these youngsters, almost 2,000 were detained by the INS in juvenile jails, imprisoned with violent offenders, for months or sometimes even years. Many of these children speak no English and have little access to counsel or other help.

The second measure would increase state and local access to federally collected security information in order better protect our citizens.

"As we fight the war on terrorism, it is imperative that information gathered at the federal level be shared with states and localities. Too often, however, state and local officials do not receive information necessary for them to protect us. If, for instance, there were a terrorist threat against the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, we would want a cooperative effort between the Federal government and local officials."

Establish procedures for federal agencies to share homeland security information with state and local officials.
Establish procedures for all government officials to be able to communicate with each other.
Address concerns about too much dissemination of classified or sensitive information by setting procedures to protect this materials, such as background checks of local officials or non-disclosure agreements.
Ensure that our current information sharing systems and computers are capable of sharing relevant homeland security information.

"Better information sharing will result in better homeland security," Senator Feinstein said. "We are already working on making intelligence gathering and dissemination work better within the federal government. We must not forget to improve communications with state and local law enforcement as well."

Companion legislation introduced by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) was approved by the House on June 26^th by a vote of 422-2.