Tennessee’s special committee investigating immigrant and refugee issues is recommending the state legislature pass measures to create more oversight and regulation of programs serving unaccompanied migrant children.
The recommendations include requiring agencies to report all third-party contracts related to residential child care, a census of children at a facility upon request, an annual census of children housed by an organization, as well as the required reporting of where a child is moved after leaving a temporary shelter, such as being transferred to another shelter or being placed with a sponsor.
The state’s special committee, formed in May, voted 8-1 Thursday to approve the recommendations, which were then sent to Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Speaker Cameron Sexton.
Over the eight months the committee held hearings, state lawmakers repeatedly met with roadblocks as federal policy largely dictates immigration in the United States and such federal agencies do not make public the movements of children in custody. State lawmakers regularly criticized the lack of transparency from the federal government.
“The federal government’s recent actions demonstrate a clear absence of transparency regarding arrival, housing and travel in Tennessee,” the committee’s report said.
The state formed the special committee in May after WRCB broke the news that unaccompanied children were being flown into Chattanooga, sometimes at night, and housed in a shelter in Highland Park before being placed with sponsors. The state had approved a license for the facility in May 2020, and children began arriving in November 2020.
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services suspended the residential child care license for the organization operating the facility, the Baptiste Group, in July after accusations of child abuse. Three individuals have since been arrested in connection to the facility, and a case of whether to fully revoke the Baptiste Group’s child care license is before an administrative law judge.
(READ MORE: Criminal case against Chattanooga migrant shelter worker moved to grand jury)
The state committee recommended the state revoke the residential child care license of an agency when “multiple facility employees are charged with criminal behavior in connection to their job responsibilities.”
Redemption to the Nations church, which leased the property to the Baptiste Group, has sued the organization for three months of unpaid rent. The Baptiste Group disputes the claim, arguing the church stopped accepting payments.
In May, Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee presented the “Migrant Resettlement Transparency Act,” a proposal that 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 state’s special committee recommends the legislature support Hagerty and Blackburn’s bill, as well as pass a resolution asking the federal government to seek local approval before moving unaccompanied children through the state.
Rep. Bruce Griffey, R-Paris, was the lone dissenting vote on adopting the committee’s recommendations. Griffey’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Times Free Press on Thursday. However, during the committee meeting Thursday, Griffey proposed adding recommendations to the report to require the state to vet all sponsors and temporarily suspend the license of all residential child care agencies serving unaccompanied minors.
Griffey suggested such agencies could be placing children with sex traffickers since the state does not have oversight on the federal vetting process in finding sponsors for children. The state licensing agency – the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services – is not legally responsible for children housed in state-licensed agencies run by federal contractors.
Sammi Maifair, an attorney for Department of Children’s Services, told the committee Griffey’s proposals would require a lot of agency resources and suspending the license of residential programs would require the state to find shelter for children in the program, which presents another burden.
As the Baptiste Group is without a license, the only other such agency operating in Tennessee as of Thursday is Bethany Christian Services. In November, a state representative accused the child care organization of “trafficking” children.
Representatives from the Department of Children’s Services told the committee the recommendations presented would require new licensing requirements from the state agency but the fiscal impact of such changes would not be known until potential legislation is crafted.
Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.