In 2021, WNN reported on multiple whistleblower complaints regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Emergency Intake Site (EIS) at Fort Bliss, a military base outside of El Paso, Texas, that was set up in 2018 to house undocumented children. Now, a report by HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlights staff allegations that there was a strong fear of whistleblower reprisal among workers at the facility, among other issues.
According to prior WNN reporting, HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) set up the Fort Bliss site “to care for 20,000 children at one time.” Two whistleblowers, Laurie Elkin and Justin Mulaire, responded to a call for federal employees to temporarily work at the site and were assigned to begin work on May 12, 2021. In a July 7, 2021 letter to Congress, Elkin and Mulaire alleged that there was widespread mismanagement, extreme harm to children’s health and wellbeing, and egregious flaws in the case management system.
These complaints and more were echoed in subsequent whistleblower complaints: Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold joined Elkin and Mulaire in their complaints about conduct and management at Fort Bliss in a July 28, 2021 letter to Congress. “Pearlstein and Reinhold, who worked at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Social Security Administration, respectively, both served as volunteer detailees at Fort...
You are reading the second issue of the Disinformation Monitor. It is published on a monthly basis and provides an overview of developments on the disinformation scenes on NATO’s eastern frontier....
