DHS has lost track of 32,000 migrant kids – and rarely bothers to look for "unaccompanied children."
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — They are what the government calls "unaccompanied children." They show up at the U.S. Southern Border without parents, are placed with "sponsors" in the U.S. while they wait to find out whether they can stay – and the government often lets them fall through the cracks. While the Department of Health & Human Services is responsible for placing the children with "sponsors" as they wait for their deportation hearings to be set, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General said Tuesday it has lost track of 32,000 Illegal Immigrant Children who failed to show up for their hearings – and they rarely bother to look for "unaccompanied children."
“ICE must take immediate action to ensure the safety of UCs residing in the United States,” Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari (right,) said in an alert.“Based on our audit work and according to ICE officials, UCs who do not appear for court are considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation or forced labor.”
Nearly 300,000 other children still haven’t been given immigration court summonses, said the Inspector General's report.
It has lost track of of them after the children and their "sponsors" stopped replying.
That works out to two-thirds of the children U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement has failed to serve.
The report says ICE, the Homeland Security agency charged with putting the children through their deportation hearings, doesn’t follow up either.
Unaccompanied children have been implicated in some horrific crimes, including the killing of a 20-year-old woman in Maryland.
The man accused of that killing entered as a juvenile and was released to a sponsor despite having ties to MS-13 in El Salvador, according to Congressional Investigators.
The man accused of that killing entered as a juvenile and was released to a sponsor despite having ties to MS-13 in El Salvador, according to Congressional Investigators.
Inspector General Cuffari said the number of children who didn’t appear for their scheduled court dates, 32,000, “may have been much larger” had ICE issued the immigration summons, or notice to appear, to the 291,000 other children unserved as of May.
“By not issuing NTAs to all UCs, ICE limits its chances of having contact with UCs when they are released from HHS’s custody, which reduces opportunities to verify their safety,” Mr. Cuffari said.
He said ICE gave several explanations for its bungles.
Its legal division, which prosecutes cases in immigration court, doesn’t automatically notify Enforcement & Removal Operations, the deportation division, after a child fails to show up.
The legal division admitted to investigators that its data was “unreliable.”
ICE also doesn’t alert HHS when the children don’t show up – and says it lacks a formal policy for following up on those cases.
He said ICE gave several explanations for its bungles.
Its legal division, which prosecutes cases in immigration court, doesn’t automatically notify Enforcement & Removal Operations, the deportation division, after a child fails to show up.
The legal division admitted to investigators that its data was “unreliable.”
ICE also doesn’t alert HHS when the children don’t show up – and says it lacks a formal policy for following up on those cases.
The children are considered the toughest immigration cases. Many have been been sent to lacations across the United States to reunite with parents living illegally in the U.S. Others are gang members sent north to help with criminal operations in America.
Their numbers began ticking up under President Obama – and have exploded under President Biden.
- Roughly 68,000 were caught and released in fiscal 2019, and
- just 15,128 were caught and released in 2020, the last full year under President Trump.
- Nearly 366,000 were caught and went to HHS during Mr. Biden’s frst three years.
In responsde to the report, HHS said it had created an email inbox for ICE to send alerts when a child failed to attend a deportation hearing. When the inspector general asked ICE about it, an official couldn’t say how often, or even whether, deportation officers used it.
In its official response to the report, ICE said it was sending a note to alert its personnel to start using the mailbox.
