Over the past five years, ICE has lost track of more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children post-custody.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has faced significant scrutiny due to its failure to monitor tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children after their release.
Fox News reported that an audit issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General paints a concerning picture of ICE's ability to keep track of these minors.
From 2019 to 2023, an estimated 448,000 unaccompanied children were transferred from ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The movement of these minors, who arrived without parents or guardians, from DHS custody to HHS was part of a procedure meant to safeguard their well-being until their immigration status could be resolved.
The internal watchdog of the DHS, in a report to Congress titled "Management Alert - ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody," identified chronic systemic issues.
The report, authored by Joseph Cuffari, criticizes ICE for not following through with their responsibility to ensure each child’s appearance at immigration court hearings.
According to the report, over 32,000 of these minors failed to appear for their scheduled hearings. The primary issue cited was ICE's inability to verify the locations or statuses of these children after release, making the enforcement of immigration laws challenging and potentially jeopardizing the children's safety.
Despite new guidelines issued by the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) to better coordinate with HHS and verify the whereabouts of these children, ICE consistently fell short.
The failure to implement these recommendations has raised significant concerns about the efficiency and effectiveness of ICE's processes.
The Inspector General’s findings are alarming, revealing that 291,000 children might not even be scheduled for removal proceedings due to these oversights. This large number highlights a broader systemic issue within ICE in handling the cases of these vulnerable groups.
Cuffari's report states, "During our ongoing audit, we learned ICE transferred more than 448,000 UCs to HHS from fiscal years 2019 to 2023.”
This admission showcases the massive scale of the issue. Moreover, the report adds, "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."
In responding to these findings, specific efforts by ICE to improve tracking and coordination have been deemed inadequate. "We found ICE often neither followed this guidance nor issued corresponding guidance for its officers in the field,” the review noted, suggesting a disconnect between policy and practice.
The report by the Inspector General is a critical step towards acknowledging and potentially rectifying the gaps within ICE's system.
It puts forth a stark view of the challenges faced by the agency in maintaining oversight of unaccompanied migrant children, who are particularly vulnerable and in need of consistent and careful management.
The implications of these oversights are broad, affecting not only the well-being of thousands of children but also the integrity of the immigration system at large.
The failure to appear at court hearings complicates the legal processes and could lead to unlawful residency and other legal complications for these minors.
As ICE struggles with these challenges, the call from various quarters for reform and better management grows louder. The protection of unaccompanied minors, along with the enforcement of immigration laws, relies heavily on the ability of ICE to adapt and adhere to its guidelines, something that the agency has struggled with over the past half-decade.