Tipsheet

Where Are the Missing Children? ICE Lost Tens of Thousands of Minors Released Into the U.S.

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  August 21, 2024 1:30 PM

Since 2019, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lost track of tens of thousands of illegal alien children released into the United States, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s inspector general found.

Inspector General Joseph Cuffari issued the alarming 18-page report, titled "Management Alert - ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody," and sent his office's findings to Congress on Tuesday.

According to the internal investigation assessing ICE's ability to monitor the whereabouts and welfare of children who had entered the United States illegally and arrived alone, the immigration enforcement agency cannot locate over 32,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) let into the country over a five-year period.

From fiscal years 2019 to 2023, ICE transferred more than 448,000 illegal alien minors to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s custody, the audit calculates.

"However, ICE was not able to account for the location of all UCs [unaccompanied children] who were released by HHS and did not appear as scheduled in immigration court," the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports. "ICE reported more than 32,000 UCs failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from FYs 2019 to 2023."

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"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 OIG report concludes.

The audit also found that ICE regularly ignores guidance for monitoring the location of illegal alien minors who missed their court appearances: "Even though OPLA [Office of the Principal Legal Advisor] 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."

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers at only one of the eight field offices the OIG visited reported that they attempted to locate the UACs.

Although HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is responsible for the care and custody of UACs, ICE retains responsibility for managing their immigration cases. ICE did not always alert the ORR when UACs went missing, and many have not even been marked for removal proceedings due to ICE frequently failing to schedule immigration court dates and serve notices. One ICE official told the OIG they're "not required to share this information with HHS."

As of May 2024, more than 291,000 illegal alien minors did not receive their required notices to appear (NTAs) in immigration court. At one ICE location the OIG visited, 84 percent (34,823) of UACs in the local area had not been served NTAs to initiate immigration proceedings. Of the 32,000 missing minors, that number may have been much worse had ICE issued the NTAs, the inspector general's report continues.

In response, ICE said that UACs don't receive their required NTAs until after they're placed with a sponsor. "The OIG's draft report does not note or acknowledge the reasons why Notice to Appear (NTA) filings to UCs are delayed and may therefore lead to misunderstandings about the process," ICE's chief financial officer and senior component accountable officer Jennifer Cleary replied in a memorandum.

The OIG says these issues occur, in part, because ICE does not have an automated system for sharing such information nor has it developed a formal follow-up policy, noting resource limitations the agency currently faces. The report ends with a recommendation advising that DHS and ICE improve their communication and coordination.

Urging ICE to take "immediate action" in order to ensure the safety of UACs residing in the U.S., the OIG warns that these children are at a higher risk for human trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.

Copies of the inspector general's alert were distributed to the congressional committees with oversight and appropriation authority over DHS.

"This is inexcusably alarming," remarked Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), a member of the House Subcommittee on DHS Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.

House Homeland GOP took to X, formerly Twitter, to castigate DHS's mishandling of UAC cases and the Biden administration's inability to secure the southern border.

The committee noted that it has been routinely raising concerns over the mass of UACs who are unaccounted for "on Biden & Harris' watch." The OIG's report "confirmed the Biden admin has failed in its duty to protect these vulnerable children," House Homeland GOP wrote. "The administration is simply enabling the cartels and human traffickers."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also chimed in, saying, "This shocking new report confirms our darkest fears and exposes the failures of Kamala Harris," President Joe Biden's border czar. "This administration has lost track of hundreds of thousands of migrant children, likely putting many in the hands of bad actors. We impeached Secretary Mayorkas and we will continue to hold this administration accountable for their alarming failures."