Federal government did not properly track up to 320,000 unaccompanied minors: 'No assurance' they are 'safe from trafficking'

A new disturbing report from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found that the federal government has not been properly tracking the whereabouts of approximately 320,000 unaccompanied migrant minors. As such, it cannot guarantee the children are not being subjected to trafficking and exploitation.

The August 19 report from Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, whom former President Donald Trump nominated, revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been unable to monitor the status of hundreds of thousands of children released from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services custody.

'Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.'

Unaccompanied minors who cross the southern border are apprehended by Customs and Border Protection and then transferred to HHS, which is responsible for finding and vetting sponsors for the children. In theory, these sponsors are supposed to be close relatives of the minors; however, under the Biden-Harris administration, the immigration system has become so overwhelmed that HHS employees are pressured to make placements quickly, and therefore, sponsors are not thoroughly vetted to ensure they are actually related to the child.

In 2021, federal employees blew the whistle on the department, claiming that it was putting children in "dangerous" situations, including likely placing minors with traffickers. One of those HHS whistleblowers, Tara Lee Rodas, previously testified that the agency "lost immediate contact with" 85,000 unaccompanied alien children.

A July report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that the Biden-Harris administration "repeatedly overrode the concerns of lower-level workers" and housed the children with guardians who had previously been rejected as sponsors.

The recent report from the inspector general found an "urgent issue," warning that "ICE cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released from DHS and HHS custody."

According to the report, of the 448,000 unaccompanied minors from fiscal years 2019 to 2023 transferred from ICE custody to HHS, 32,000 failed to appear for their immigration court hearings. Additionally, as of May, ICE did not serve Notice to Appear documents to more than 291,000 minors.

"Although we identified more than 32,000 UCs who did not appear for their immigration court dates, that number may have been much larger had ICE issued NTAs to the more than 291,000 UCs who were not placed into removal proceedings. By not issuing NTAs to all UCs, ICE limits its chances of having contact with UCs when they are released from HHS' custody, which reduces opportunities to verify their safety. Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor," the report read.

ICE told ABC News that the interim report's findings may be "misleading and may be misconstrued because they fail to acknowledge key facts." According to the agency, it does not issue NTAs to unaccompanied children "until after they have been placed with sponsors who have been vetted by HHS."

Rob Law with the America First Policy Institute responded to the inspector general's report on social media, writing, "The day after the [Democratic National Committee] endorsed amnesty for human traffickers, the DHS Inspector General confirms that Biden-Harris handed over ~320k unaccompanied alien children back to the traffickers. This is FAR WORSE than the 85k lost UAC previously reported by NYT."

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