President Trump has nominated James O’Neill to be the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. As HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. pushes ahead with his agenda to make America healthy again, O’Neill will support Kennedy and address the rules and regulations and day-to-day functioning of the largest federal agency. However, in his confirmation hearing last week, O’Neill also promised to help put an end to child trafficking, a problem the previous administration all but ignored.
O’ Neill is an HHS veteran and has advocated for Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. Prior to the nomination by President Trump, O’Neil served as Director of the Speech and Editorial Division at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2002 to 2005 before advancing to Associate Deputy Secretary and Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary from 2005 to 2007. From 2007 to 2008, O’Neill was the Principal Associate Deputy Secretary at HHS.
On Thursday, O’Neill testified before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee where he said, “I want our children to be healthy and happy and inherit a healthier nation.” He continued, “Most families want to make healthy choices, but our food system pushes ultra processed foods. Our official nutrition advice creates confusion. Our healthcare system is difficult to navigate, and it prioritizes pills over prevention.”
O’Neill emphasized that, if confirmed, his role will be to “help reform outdated rules, pursue transparency and gold standard science, and champion healthy lifestyles and prevention so Americans can thrive.”
In addition, O’Neill was straightforward about the need to reverse the damage done from the Biden administration’s open border policy which “lost” thousands of migrant children who became susceptible to sex trafficking and criminals.
Senator Ashley Moody (R-FL), who has first hand experience with the issue, raised her concerns to O’Neill. The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is responsible for placing children who cross the border illegally within the nation’s borders and would fall under O’Neill’s purview. As Florida State Attorney General, Moody brought legal actions against the Biden administration for its failure to protect migrant children. Moody’s Grand Jury Report details this atrocious Biden administration failure. She said not only did officials fail to protect children, but accused them of facilitating the sex and slave trafficking. Moody claimed that children were placed with individuals and at addresses that had not been vetted adequately by ORR.
O’Neill addressed Moody’s concerns stating, “Finding the children is absolutely a priority for the Secretary and making sure the children are safe. If confirmed, I look forward to working with him and the ORR to make sure that all the children are safe.”
O’Neill committed to correcting the regulations currently in place that facilitate child trafficking and supported Secretary Kennedy’s efforts to do so. In an open cabinet meeting at the beginning of the month, Secretary Kennedy informed President Trump that the Biden administration was a "collaborator" in child trafficking for sex and for slavery. Kennedy told the President, “We have ended the role of HHS as the principal vector of child trafficking. We have ended that, and we are aggressively going out and trying to find the 300,000 children that were lost by the Biden administration.”
With the assistance of Deputy Secretary O’Neill, HHS will pursue the protection that all children deserve - no matter where they are from.
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