Members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation are proposing a bill to increase transparency from the federal government about the movement of migrant children, a week after video surfaced of children getting off a plane in Chattanooga.
Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, along with U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, unveiled the Migrant Resettlement Transparency Act, a proposal that opponents said would burden systems that should be focused on care and safety.
“Federal transparency with state and local officials is always important in our republic, but it’s particularly critical during the ongoing crisis on the border,” Fleischmann said in a statement Thursday announcing the bill.
The bill would require the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to consult governors and local leaders about any proposed relocation or movement of people in the country illegally no less than three days before the transportation occurs.
The secretaries would also be required to submit monthly reports to several Congressional committees and each governor detailing demographic data on the migrants; the types of settings where they are being resettled, transported or relocated; the “methods used to determine the ages”; the “methods used to verify the familial status”; whether the migrants were granted work permits or how they are financially supporting themselves; and the “amounts and types of federal resources spent” on the migrant transportation and resettlement.