U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) penned a new letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, slamming the agency for prioritizing thousands of non-citizens over American families seeking answers about their international adoptions. Sen. Hawley highlighted the Department’s failure to unite a Missouri couple with their adopted child and requested the specific actions it will take to expeditiously respond.
“Your agency has repeatedly brushed off the Trowers by providing an indefinite timeline for their adoption case, leaving them to wait for months on end to learn when they might be united with their adopted child. […] At least twice this year, USCIS has declined to provide this family with a timeframe for a decision. Hardly efficient,” Sen. Hawley wrote.
“In contrast, your agency rushed over 100,000 Afghans through immigration processes, often foregoing full vetting altogether, following President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Today, the Department of Homeland Security even waives filing fees and expedites applications for these Afghans. Meanwhile, American families following the law are told to stand by indefinitely.”
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is a subagency of DHS which is involved in processing international adoptions. Sen. Hawley’s office has written repeatedly to USCIS – including USCIS Director Ur Jaddou – on behalf of the Trowers, but the agency has failed to provide a timeline for a decision.
“It should not be more difficult for adopting parents in the United States to even know whether or not they will be united with their children than it is for thousands of unvetted refugees to enter our country,” Sen. Hawley stated in his letter.
The Senator has previously questioned Secretary Mayorkas on the Biden Administration’s process for allowing Afghan evacuees into the country.
Read the letter here.