Exclusive | Xavier Becerra appalled staff with offensive term for missing children while HHS secretary

Xavier Becerra disparaged migrant children as “little Juanitos and Juanitas” while leading the Biden administration’s health department, a former colleague alleges — fueling Democratic insiders’ fears about California’s would-be governor.“I never heard a single person disparage immigrant children,” a former Biden administration official who worked with Becerra told the California Post.“He was the only person who brazenly said, ‘these little Juanitos and Juanitas.’”Becerra’s campaign denied the allegation, calling it “an outright fabrication,” and dismissed criticism of his tenure in the Biden administration as “jealousy.” The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story The allegation comes as Democratic insiders question whether Becerra’s quiet campaign and thin agenda reflect a cautious strategy or an attempt to cover up the shortcomings of a weak leader.The Post has learned that concerns about Becerra’s performance as U.S.health secretary surfaced within weeks of his taking over the department in March 2021.The former official recalled an emotional White House Zoom call that spring, when Cabinet secretaries, senior advisers and staff were scrambling to move unaccompanied migrant children out of crowded detention facilities.Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was nearly in tears as he described the conditions children were experiencing as officials struggled to clear a bottleneck in transfers to the Department of Health and Human Services, the source said.Then attention shifted to Becerra.“We cut to Xavier Becerra, and I can only describe it as dead-fish eyes.

There was nothing there,” the official said.“You would expect at that moment for the person responsible for the biggest humanitarian crisis to show some emotion....