A federal agency says they will now retroactively perform FBI-fingerprint checks on all employees at a temporary shelter for migrant children in West Texas.
Initial background checks were less rigorous.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is working as “quickly as possible” to conduct FBI-fingerprint checks on the current staff at a Tornillo shelter, where migrant children have been held since June.
The Associated Press reports the background checks at first did not involve fingerprint searches. Instead, a private contractor relied on name-based checks, which are not as thorough and can generate false negatives.
A government report found the name-based background checks heightened “the risk that an individual with a criminal history could have direct access to children.”
The agency says it will include the fingerprint checks for all future employees at the shelter.
