DHS Urgent Issue with Unaccompanied Children

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) internal watchdog has identified a critical issue regarding the handling of unaccompanied migrant children by immigration officials. An interim report, recently submitted to Congress, reveals that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has struggled to keep track of unaccompanied minors released from government custody. Over the past five years, more than 32,000 of these children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings, raising alarms about their safety and whereabouts. The report emphasizes that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for the care of these children, while ICE is tasked with ensuring their safe transfer to HHS. However, the inspector general's findings indicate that immigration officials often cannot monitor the status of these minors after their release. This lack of oversight has led to federal judges in immigration courts issuing removal orders for children who did not attend their scheduled hearings, with only 56% of those appearing being represented by legal counsel. As of May 2024, over 291,000 unaccompanied children had not been placed into removal proceedings due to ICE's failure to issue notices to appear or schedule court dates. The report suggests that the actual number of children missing court dates could be significantly higher than reported. To address these issues, the watchdog recommends the development of an automated system to track court appearances and maintain updated address information for these vulnerable children. In response, ICE has stated that the report's findings may be misleading, arguing that it does not issue notices to appear until after children are placed with vetted sponsors, which can lead to delays in the process.