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Scott Lloyd

Former Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement

In November 2018, Scott Lloyd was moved from his post as Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to a position in another HHS office, the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives.  Lloyd was unfit to lead ORR, and was even effectively removed from running the office after he severely bungled his responsibility to oversee separated children in ORR care. This was unsurprising, given he has almost no experience resettling vulnerable populations and is the subject of numerous lawsuits related to his incompetency as ORR director. Lloyd gained notoriety for his role in:

  • the massive mismanagement of children separated from their families

  • denying young women in his care access to abortions

  • indefinitely detaining certain children in ORR custody

In May 2019, HHS announced Lloyd would be leaving the Trump administration.

    For the full story on Lloyd and his dangerous positions and policies, see our sections below.

    ANTI-ABORTION

    Lloyd Compared Abortion To The Holocaust. Lloyd wrote, “The Jews who died in the Holocaust had a chance to laugh, play, sing, dance, learn, and love each other. The victims of abortion do not.” 1 

    Lloyd Denied Abortion Requests From Women Even When The Pregnancy Was The Result Of Rape. Lloyd said he has “denied abortion requests even in the context where the pregnancy is as a result of rape.” 2 

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    ANTI-WOMAN

    Lloyd: Women Shouldn’t Make Reproductive Decisions Without A Man’s Consent. Lloyd encouraged lawmakers to write legislation forcing women to notify their male sexual partners of their decisions to have an abortion, and to gain their consent. Lloyd suggested that state legislators should “write a law that says essentially that women must notify the men of their decision to abort, and gain their consent, except in situations where their reasons for aborting relate to the physical realities of pregnancy.” 3

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    ANTI-BIRTH CONTROL

    Lloyd: To Get Federally Funded Birth Control, Women Should Have To Sign Pledge To Not Have An Abortion. In 2009, Lloyd suggested that women who receive federal funds toward birth control should “promise not to have an abortion if the contraception fails, which it often does.” Lloyd further stated that if the contraception fails, the woman “will put the baby up for adoption,” which could be enforced by “having the woman sign a pledge.” Lastly, Lloyd added, that “If they go on to have an abortion, they become ineligible for more taxpayer-bought contraception.” 4

    Lloyd Has Repeatedly Argued That Birth Control Causes Abortion. In April 2011, Lloyd claimed that “chemicals and devices billed as contraceptives actually cause early abortions, including oral contraceptives in some instances.” 5 Lloyd also claimed in 2015 that that “contraception enables sexual encounters and relationships that would not have happened without it” which “leads to a desire for abortion.” 6 

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    ANTI-LGBTQ

    Lloyd: LGBT Relationships Are Inferior. Lloyd has argued that gay and heterosexual couples should not be granted the same status, because gay couples do not provide the same “benefits” to society. Lloyd contended that “to confer the same status to gay and heterosexual relationships is to refuse to acknowledge the many benefits heterosexual relationships provide to society that homosexual relationships simply cannot provide.” 7 

    Lloyd also encouraged lawmakers to use their power to codify discrimination against same-sex couples, stating that “any person, and any group of people (such as a state legislature), who value the existence of human life and diversity can and should feel comfortable assigning a different classification to exclusive heterosexual relationships over exclusive homosexual relationships.” 8 

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    ANTI-IMMIGRANT

    Lloyd Neglected To Review Case Files For Separated Children And Stopped Tracking Them, Delaying Their Return To Their Families. Lloyd did not review hundreds of case files of separated children and ordered his staff to stop tracking the children, resulting in his effective removal from leading his office. 9

    Lloyd Instituted A Policy That Required His Personal Sign Off For The Release Of Certain Children In ORR Custody, Stranding Many In Prolonged Detention. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is currently engaged in a class action lawsuit on behalf of children harmed by this policy, which a federal judge classified as arbitrary. 10

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    SOURCES

    1. Mother Jones, 8/22/18
    2. ACLU, 10/18/17
    3. Ethika Politika, 6/2/11
    4. National Catholic Register, 8/28/09
    5. Ethika Politika, 4/4/11
    6. The Federalist, 8/18/15
    7. Ethika Politika, 10/10/11
    8. Ethika Politika, 10/10/11
    9. Politico, 10/23/18
    10. Slate, 8/23/18