DHS Can't Account For 1000s Of Unaccompanied Migrant Children, IG Finds

DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari released a shocking report Tuesday on the status of nearly 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children who’ve entered the country since around 2019, finding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can’t account for an untold number of them.

According to the DHS IG, ICE has apprehended 448,820 unaccompanied migrant children since 2019.

Once ICE apprehends those children, the agency transfers them to the Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. The HHS ORR is then supposed to find shelter for those children as they go through immigration court proceedings.

However, more than 32,000 unaccompanied minors have failed to show up to their court dates—and ICE can’t account for all of them, according to the DHS IG. The DHS IG also found that ICE hasn’t served notices for more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors to appear for court—meaning that many of them could be unaccounted for, too.

IG Cuffari explained the importance of the court dates: He said they are often the only chance ICE officials have to check on the status of the unaccompanied minors, to make sure the shelter or sponsor they’re staying with is treating them well.

“[Unaccompanied children] who do not appear for court are considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” Cuffari said in his report.

“[Immigration court] staff may be the only ICE officials [unaccompanied children[ ever see in person, and this touchpoint only occurs if the UCs are served [notices to appear] and appear for their hearings.”

Bizarelly, Cuffari further said that ICE officials have little authority over unaccompanied children once their proceedings are underway, other than to help manage their immigration cases.

“Therefore, even if ICE were to identify UCs in unsafe conditions, the agency has limited authority to respond. ICE personnel at two field offices affirmed this and explained they had identified UCs in unsafe conditions but were unable to intervene,” Cuffari said.

“One ICE officer expressed concern with not being able to take action in a case involving a UC whose sponsor claimed the [unaccompanied minor] was in an inappropriate relationship with her husband.”

Cuffari recommended that the DHS implements guidelines to better track unaccompanied migrant children.

The DHS concurred with the recommendations, though the agency did take issue with some of the IG’s findings. Namely, the DHS said it hasn’t served notices for children to appear in court because many of those children haven’t been transferred to shelters. The DHS said it usually waits for children to be placed in a shelter or with a sponsor—that way, the court proceedings don’t have to restart in another jurisdiction once a child is moved, the agency explained.

The Donald Trump campaign released a statement in response to the IG report.

“The report found widespread failures and breakdowns within the Harris-Biden administration, including the lack of a “formal policy or process” to manage unaccompanied children, “limited oversight” of the programs, and non-existent internal communication protocols,” the campaign said.

“All of this has resulted in an epidemic of missing children under Harris-Biden—where the most vulnerable among us are left to suffer the inhumanity of their open borders obsession.”

The DHS IG report follows shocking HHS whistleblower disclosures about what they described as “taxpayer-funded child slavery” being conducted with the government’s full knowledge and tacit consent. Those disclosures include shocking allegations that the HHS sent at least two unaccompanied migrant children to homes with ties to the El Salvadoran gang, La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is working with the HHS whistleblowers on his own investigation.