Immigration and customs enforcement say they have taken steps to fix the issue.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children who entered the United States without parents or guardians have gone missing, according to a new Watchdog report.
In some cases, ICE also did not know where unaccompanied minors escaped custody rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); documents say.
While ICE handles immigration enforcement, HHS is accused of caring for unaccompanied children, reviewing review applications from adults requesting child sponsorship, and transferring the child to an approved sponsor.
ICE also did not effectively supervise unaccompanied minors who were subject to deportation, Watchdog found. As of January, ICE had not provided any notices to more than 233,000 US companion minors to appear in court. Another 43,000 or more unaccompanied minors will not be able to appear due to the scheduled hearing, and could cause a deportation order from the judge.
The issues arising from the ice don’t always receive information about the location of unaccompanied children’s sponsors from HHS and other federal agencies, and there is limited personnel to monitor cases, and there is no policy requiring officers to monitor cases, the report said.
Related Stories
“Without the ability to monitor (children) location and status, ICE cannot promote the emergence of courts, and guarantees (children) are not safe from involvement in human trafficking, exploitation, forced labor, or criminal activity that could pose a risk to the community,” the inspector said.
Investigators with Cuffari’s office interviewed more than 140 officials, primarily from ICE and other agencies, and reviewed the report’s data.
Inspectors issued four recommendations, including advising ICE to develop and implement plans to overcome the backlog of unaccompanied children who require notice to appear in court.
ICE agreed to all four recommendations and said it was estimated that it will complete the recommended work by September 30 or the end of the fiscal year.
In a letter to Cuffari, ICE official Jennifer Cleary said that ICE will work with partners to ensure that unaccompanied minors will be safely transferred from the Department of Homeland Security to HHS.
The HHS, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
