Alabama’s U.S. Senators Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville have both signed onto new legislation requiring increased vetting of unaccompanied alien children, UACs, and their potential sponsors. UACs include both children who travel alone to the United States to escape violence and poverty in their home countries, as well as children whose parents or legal guardians are prosecuted, detained or deported by the U.S. government due to a lack of legal resident status.
The Kayla Hamilton Act—named after a Maryland woman killed by a 17-year-old El Salvador native and UAC in 2022 and introduced by U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas—would place new requirements on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security to further vet UACs who are placed in federal custody. It would also increase vetting of potential sponsors who seek to assume custody of UACs.
Under the bill, the federal government would be required to ensure that a UAC will appear for all relevant immigration, administrative and judicial hearings or proceedings; to protect UACs from smuggling, human trafficking and other harmful exploitation; and to thoroughly vet a UAC to determine if they are a flight risk, a danger to themselves or others, or have a documented criminal history.
For those UACs who are deemed a danger to themselves or others, a flight risk, or have a criminal history or gang affiliation, the bill would require that the child “be placed in a secure facility for the duration of any immigration proceedings” or until they are removed from the country.
The bill would also prohibit UACs from being placed in the custody of any potential sponsor who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States, has a serious criminal history as determined by the U.S. Attorney General, or is a registered sex offender. The legislation would also mandate that the Secretary of Homeland Security be provided with the names, social security numbers and other identifying information of each adult resident living in the household of a UAC sponsor.
While the legislation ostensibly seeks to increase safety for UACs in sponsor custody, it does not contain any provisions addressing the long-documented abuse and neglect UACs face while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody.
Following the bill’s introduction, both Sens. Britt and Tuberville released statements celebrating the legislation and taking the opportunity to bash the former Biden administration’s immigration policy.
“Kayla’s story is another heartbreaking reminder of the chaos and danger brought into our country by the Biden Administration’s open-border policies,” Britt said. “The Kayla Hamilton Act establishes common-sense guardrails, such as requiring the collection of records related to criminal behavior and potential gang activity for unaccompanied alien children, so we can do everything possible to prevent future tragedies like Kayla’s murder.”
“Crimes that are committed by illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here in the first place are 100 percent preventable,” Tuberville said. “Kayla Hamilton’s story is yet another tragic example of the Biden administration prioritizing illegal aliens over the safety of American citizens. Our bill is a crucial step in the right direction to ensure crimes like this never happen again.”
House Republicans previously introduced their own version of the Kayla Hamilton Act in July. That bill notably drew criticism from U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who slammed her Republican colleagues for “exploiting” Hamilton’s name for “political expediency.”
If either version of the Kayla Hamilton Act is ultimately enacted, its provisions would take effect immediately.
