US Can Not Track All Unaccompanied Migrant Children After Release From Custody - Report
© AP Photo / Eric Gay
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US federal immigration agencies are unable to keep track of all unaccompanied migrant children after they're released from US custody, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Inspector General said in a report released on Tuesday.
Unaccompanied migrant children are those who come into the United States without any parents or guardians. A majority have come through the US southern border over the last several years since the Trump administration.
"This alert informs you of an urgent issue we discovered during an ongoing audit and the actions ICE has taken to address the issues. Specifically, we found ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released from DHS and HHS custody," the report said.
The report underscored that without an ability to track unaccompanied migrant children, US immigration agencies have no way to ensure that they are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.
The DHS watchdog learned that the federal government has released more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children into the United States from 2019 to 2023, but not all of them have been able to be locatedand others have not appeared as scheduled to immigration court proceedings, according to the report.
