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Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a formal floor step rather than a policy debate. It mentions legislation such as Kayla Hamilton Act, members such as John Cornyn.
Official title: UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 4371
Issued
April 30, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to seek unanimous consent that the Senate pass H.R. 4371, the House companion to my Kayla Hamilton Act, which passed the House with bipartisan support.
viciously murdered by an MS-13 gang member. This criminal entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor and was released into the custody of an unvetted sponsor.
Kayla's death is a tragedy. I had the honor of meeting her mother Tammy Nobles—one of the Angel Moms who came and testified at a hearing I held last summer.
was in handling unaccompanied minors entering the United States during President Biden's 4 years in office. By some accounts, there were as many as a half a million unaccompanied minors who came into the United States during the Biden administration's open border policy and then were placed with sponsors, many of whom were unvetted. Many of these so-called unaccompanied children were 17-year-old boys—almost fully grown men.
were released to unvetted sponsors, and that should be illegal. If we are going to care about our children who are the most vulnerable among us, which is really how a society is judged—how we treat the most vulnerable people in our society—then releasing children to unvetted sponsors should be a crime. While Health and Human Services has reformed its policies under President Trump, the careless and, I would say, reckless way that unaccompanied minors were handled by the Biden administration was shameful.
information about potential sponsors and any person who lives in the sponsor's household before a child is placed with them.
the named sponsor but yet not everybody else living in that household who could be a sexual predator or could have another criminal record or could be a threat—an immediate and real threat—to that child.
sponsors and any person—all persons—who live in that sponsor's household before a child is placed with them, and it bars criminal alien sponsors from being allowed to assume custody of these children.
mandatory checks on all unaccompanied children, including considering whether an unaccompanied child poses a danger to themselves or the community—contacting the consulate or embassy or their home country and vetting them for ties to criminal organizations. As I said, some of these children were very vulnerable, but others were almost grown men in many instances. And without proper vetting of these unaccompanied children—a child, of course, is anybody under the age of 18—that, in and of itself, is a danger that should stop.
custody of criminals, and we should also vet the unaccompanied minors themselves, including for ties to gangs and existing criminal histories.
I urge the adoption of this legislation.
Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4371, which was received from the House; and, further, I ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. I think Senator Cornyn and I share a goal—actually, multiple goals—one is to adequately protect children who are crossing the border by themselves to make sure that they are in adequate, humane, and appropriate placements; but also to vet individuals, including young unaccompanied minors who are crossing the border to make sure that they are not a danger to themselves or to others.
I am going to object to this bill today. It is a pretty comprehensive rewrite of a lot of the laws relative to the detention of minors. And while I think we can probably come to some common ground here, as I read this bill in preparation for the Senator's unanimous consent request, it looks as if it has a number of measures that would actually be seriously detrimental to vulnerable kids, kids who pose no threat to themselves or to others.
problem with this bill that maybe we could clear up. This bill does not allow for unaccompanied minors to be immediately reunited with their biological parent if their parent is a TPS holder, if their parent is applying for asylum, if their parent is a refugee, if their parent is here on a student visa. And so there are going to be a whole bunch of kids who are not going to be reunited with their parent—which I think we have always agreed is the proper course, if possible—because of some of the underlying provisions in this bill. So I just think that this has to go through another round of edits and work before it is ready to come to the floor.
immigration policy based on the fact that they were going to be going after “the worst of the worst.” They are going to be going after immigrants who pose a danger to the community. I think that is what Senator Cornyn's goal is here, to make sure that we aren't bringing into the country young people that might present a danger to others.
But, of course, the facts do not back up the administration's claim. What we have learned after a year and a half is that this administration is not going after “the worst of the worst.” Eighty- five percent of the people they are detaining have no criminal history at all; 95 percent of the people they are detaining have no history of violence at all. They are roaming American streets just looking for anybody with an accent.
very small number of people entering this country who may pose a danger to Americans. The reality still is that immigrants commit crimes at rates lower than natural-born citizens.
But we are in league on the underlying goal. I just think this bill doesn't get there; and, in fact, this bill may do a lot of harm to kids who pose absolutely no threat to themselves or to others. And for that reason, I would object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The objection is heard.
The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as I listen to our colleague, he basically says: The perfect is the enemy of the good.
innocent, vulnerable children, something the Biden administration turned a blind eye to during 4 years of its open border policies.
to the United States because the Biden administration said: If you come by yourself, we are going to turn you loose and let you into the country. So desperate parents sent their children from faraway places to come to the United States, only to be placed with individuals who were not properly vetted and certainly households that could have involved sexual offenders and other predators—and crimes. We don't know how many of them were recruited into gangs, trafficked for sex or involuntary labor. This is a catastrophe that I think we have only begun to understand.
Enforcement have rescued many of these children, but nowhere near the number that have been released into the country by the Biden administration.
the harm being caused to these children under the pretense of open borders and generous immigration policies. It is hardly generous to condemn a child to a life of sex trafficking or to be an object of harm from a person who wants to take advantage of them for labor or sexual favors or you name it.
this, and I find the excuses given by our colleague from Connecticut to be just insufficient.
children, the Biden administration encouraged and incentivized the irresponsible treatment of these kids. We don't know if they went to school. We don't know if they got the healthcare that they need in order to stay healthy. We don't know. And the Biden administration took the outrageous position that it is not their responsibility. Once the kids came to the United States and were placed with the sponsor, the Biden administration went: Our job is done.
States to look after these kids. Well, we know child protective services in the States are generally overwhelmed anyway. And to say that we have to wait for a child to be killed, raped, murdered, denied access to basic healthcare and education services before we can help them out is outrageous.
enforce our laws and to know who the adults are who are claiming these children and make sure they aren't a threat to their health, safety, and welfare.
who break the law. And releasing minors into the custody of criminals is certainly not the answer.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.