Watchdog group once again calls on HHS Secretary Alex Azar to remove Scott Lloyd from the Office of Refugee Resettlement
04.27.18 – Yesterday a top Health and Human Services (HHS) official testified that the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has lost track of 1,475 unaccompanied immigrant minors it had placed with sponsors in the United States. According to The New York Times, the unaccompanied immigrant minors, “could end up in the hands of human traffickers or be used as laborers by people posing as relatives.”
The revelation comes after ORR Director Scott Lloyd has spent much of his tenure mired in scandal for repeatedly denying young women in ORR’s care access to abortion. According to court records from Equity Forward’s suit to obtain documents from Lloyd’s office, ORR generated more than 166,000 of pages of correspondence discussing twelve young women’s reproductive health decisions.
In response, Mary Alice Carter, Executive Director of Equity Forward released the following statement:
“ORR plays a vital function caring for and supporting unaccompanied immigrant minors. Unfortunately, Scott Lloyd has spent his time, energy and resources seeking to imposing his will on young, vulnerable women at the expense of being an effective leader of an important office. Luckily, the courts have stepped in and stood up for those in ORR’s care. To date, HHS Secretary Azar has stood by Lloyd. Enough is enough. It’s time for Secretary Azar to hold Scott Lloyd accountable for his actions by removing him from his job, appointing a new ORR director who can right the ship and delivering the needed services to the populations ORR serves. HHS can fix this self-inflicted crisis.”
More information on Equity Forward’s HHS Watch program and Lloyd can be found here.
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