CBP officers and agents process a small group of asylum-seekers who have active applications under the Migrant Protection Protocols at the Paso del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas, February 26, 2021. Under the Migrant Protection Protocols established in January, 2019, migrants seeking asylum were required to remain in Mexico while their applications were processed. Migrants with the arriving group have tested negative for Covid-19 prior to making the crossing as DHS has begun the first step in a phased restoration of safe and orderly processing at the Southwest Border. CBP photo by Glenn Fawcett.
OPM has asked federal agencies to publicize and support a request by HHS for federal employees to take temporary voluntary assignments to assist with caring for and placing children without legal immigration status who have entered the country at the southern border without a parent or legal guardian.
HHS is seeking candidates to serve up to a 120-day voluntary deployment detail as part of unaccompanied children program, which provides “a continuum of care for children, including placements in foster care, shelter, and residential care providers that provide temporary housing and other services,” a memo to agencies says.
“Details will involve contact with migrant children and a variety of other federal and non-federal entities, possibly including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other HHS employees. This is a reimbursable detail. Travel, lodging and per diem will be provided.”
Individuals working directly with children will need to have the individual undergo a “Child Care” investigation, which includes specific checks as directed by the Crime Control Act of 1990, it adds.
Locations currently include facilities along the Southwest U.S. border area, specifically Dallas, San Diego, San Antonio, and Ft. Bliss. and “will extend to other geographic areas according to the need,” it says.
Interested employees should apply at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/596318100.
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