DHS Watchdog Says ICE Has Lost Track of as Many as 291,000 Unaccompanied Migrant Children By Debra Heine
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lost track of up to 291,000 unaccompanied minors over the last five years, according to a blistering new report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General.
The IG report, titled “Management Alert – ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody,” confirmed that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children [UCs] are no longer accounted for by ICE.
“During our ongoing audit to assess ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of UCs who were released or transferred from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we learned ICE transferred more than 448,000 UCs to HHS from fiscal years 2019 to 2023,” the internal watchdog reported. “However, ICE was not able to account for the location of all UCs who were released by HHS and did not appear as scheduled in immigration court. ICE reported more than 32,000 UCs failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from FYs 2019 to 2023.”
Migrant children are counted as unaccounted for when their sponsors fail to appear at immigration court hearings after being released from government custody.
“Despite its responsibilities for overseeing UCs through the immigration process, we found ICE cannot always monitor the location and status of UCs once they were released from DHS and HHS custody,” the report states.
“Even though OPLA issued new guidance to verify the location of UCs who failed to appear for their court hearings and improve coordination with HHS, we found ICE often neither followed this guidance nor issued corresponding guidance for its officers in the field,” the report continued.
The watchdog noted that the numbers could be far worse than documented because ICE has failed to issue Notice to Appear (NTA) charging documents to approximately 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
“As of May 2024, ICE had not served an NTA or scheduled a court date for more than 291,000 UCs,” the report states. “In each ICE location we visited, ERO could not serve NTAs on all UCs. At one location we visited, 34,823 (84 percent) of 41,638 UCs in the local area had not been served NTAs to initiate immigration proceedings.”
The report, which was issued by Inspector General Joseph Cuffari and addressed to ICE Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner, noted that UCs who do not appear in immigration
court “are considered more at risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.”
Immigration court hearings are often ICE’s only opportunity to observe and screen UCs for trafficking indicators or other safety concerns. By not issuing NTAs to all UCs, ICE limits its chances of having contact with UCs when they are released from HHS’ custody, which reduces opportunities to verify their safety.
Similarly, when ICE does not share information with HHS regarding UCs who did not appear for hearings, HHS personnel are unable to determine if UCs need wellness checks or post release services for individuals at an increased risk of being trafficked. Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.
Cuffari urged ICE to “take immediate action to ensure the safety of UCs residing in the United States.”
As American Greatness has previously reported, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) habitually releases migrant children to unvetted “sponsors” who often force them to take on grueling jobs, or be sexually exploited. In some cases, dozens of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) have been sent to the same residence of an unvetted sponsor.
Thousands of these minors “have ended up in punishing jobs across the country—working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories—all in violation of child labor laws,” the New York Times reported in February of 2023.
According to U.S. government data, 70 percent of all unaccompanied minors at the border come from either Guatemala or Honduras, which immigration experts say strongly indicates that child trafficking is occurring in those countries.
On April 25, 2024, Guatemalan authorities raided the offices of the Biden-linked NGO, Save the Children, citing complaints of sexual abuse of Guatemalan children in Texas shelters. The raid was reportedly carried out by officers from the Special Public Prosecutor Against Impunity and the Civil Police. Save the Children has been active on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border is being investigated in Guatemala for child trafficking.
Rafael Curruchiche, the Guatemalan Prosecutor for Impunity, said the case is “transnational and of great transcendence,” involving several organizations. Save the Children Guatemala has denied all allegations of misconduct.
Save the Children operates in more than 120 countries, with U.S. operations headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. Jill Biden was named board chair of the organization in February of 2017, a position from which she has reportedly since resigned.
Since Joe Biden and Kamala Harris came to office, the NGO has reportedly received over $21 million in grant money for its work in Guatemala, most of the funding coming from USAID and the U.S. State Department.
DHS whistleblowers recently provided documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) indicating that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has routinely facilitated unsafe placements of children.
Sen. Grassley included the documents in a detailed criminal referral to the FBI, the Daily Wire reported.
The whistleblowers say the government has long been aware of red flags in the migrant resettlement program, but that HHS leaders press employees to simply quickly deliver children to adults to live with, not question whether those adults are really related or will provide a safe environment.
Together, the documents detail an organized operation wherein traffickers advertise on Guatemalan radio stations to convince parents to send their children to the U.S. alone in order to exploit the United States’ refusal to deport “unaccompanied alien children.” The administration quickly releases children who cross the border into the custody of “sponsors,” typically adult illegal immigrants.
A State Grand Jury in Florida released a report in March 2023 accusing the Biden administration of facilitating “forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children” through its criminally negligent immigration policies.
“Criminal history, lack of citizen status and even total refusal to submit to a background check does not disqualify sponsors from receiving a UAC,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody pointed out in a statement following the release of the Grand Jury’s findings. “One sponsor was given custody despite having been to Florida prison before for battery on a child,” Moody added.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reacted to the DHS watchdog report on X, Tuesday, saying that the “shocking” new information “confirms our darkest fears and exposes the failures of Kamala Harris.”
“This administration has lost track of hundreds of thousands of migrant children, likely putting many in the hands of bad actors,” Johnson wrote. “We impeached Secretary Mayorkas and we will continue to hold this administration accountable for their alarming failures.”
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was a bit more blunt in his assessment. “Harris and Biden have facilitated the largest child trafficking ring in American history,” Hawley posted on X. “And now they want to give the traffickers amnesty.”
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