by @pepesgrandma at X
Report on urgent issue by the U.S. Dept Of Homeland Security Inspector General : The Biden admin has lost tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children.
Management Alert – ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody
Summary of Issues:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could not monitor the location and status of all unaccompanied migrant children (UCs) or initiate removal proceedings as needed. 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. 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.
Additionally, even though HHS is responsible for the care and custody of UCs, ICE did not always inform HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) when UCs failed to appear in immigration court after release from HHS’ custody. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers at only one of the eight field offices we visited stated they attempted to locate the UCs. ICE also did not serve a Notice to Appear (NTA) on all UCs, after release from HHS custody, who warranted placement in removal proceedings under 8 U.S. Code Section 1229(a). As of May 2024, ICE had not served NTAs on more than 291,000 UCs who therefore do not yet have an immigration court date.
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