Tens of Thousands of Illegal Immigrant Children Missing: Inspector General

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has taken action to correct the issues.

Uaccompanied minors who just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children who entered the United States without a parent or guardian are missing, according to a new watchdog report.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to keep tabs from fiscal years 2019 to 2023 on more than 31,000 of the children, with their release addresses being blank, undeliverable, or missing apartment numbers, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said in the report, which was released on March 25.

In some instances, ICE also did not know the location of unaccompanied minors who fled the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to the document.

ICE handles immigration enforcement, while HHS is charged with taking care of unaccompanied children, vetting applications from adults who request to sponsor the children, and transferring the children to approved sponsors.

ICE also did not effectively oversee unaccompanied minors subject to deportation, the watchdog found. As of January, ICE had not served notices to appear in court to more than 233,000 unaccompanied minors in the United States. Another more than 43,000 unaccompanied minors who were provided with notices to appear failed to appear for scheduled hearings, which can trigger a deportation order from a judge.

The issues stemmed from ICE not always receiving information about the location of sponsors for the unaccompanied children from HHS and other federal agencies, as well as limited staffing to monitor the cases and no policy requiring officers to monitor the cases, the report stated.

“Without an ability to monitor the location and status of [the children], ICE is unable to facilitate court appearances and has no assurance [the children] are safe from trafficking, exploitation, forced labor, or involvement in criminal activities that may pose a risk to local communities,” the inspector general said.

Investigators with Cuffari’s office interviewed more than 140 officials, primarily from ICE and other agencies, and reviewed data for the report.

Cuffari in 2024 issued an alert warning that ICE was not able to monitor all unaccompanied minors released from the custody of HHS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency. The number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children entering the United States spiked under President Joe Biden, peaking at 152,880 in fiscal year 2022. Some of the children were sent to traffickers, according to an HHS whistleblower.

The inspector general issued four recommendations, including advising ICE to develop and implement a plan to get through the backlog of unaccompanied children needing notices to appear in court.

ICE concurred with all four recommendations and said that it is estimated the agency will complete the recommended work by Sept. 30, or the end of the fiscal year.

Jennifer Cleary, a senior ICE official, said in a letter to Cuffari that ICE is committed to working with partners to ensure unaccompanied minors are safely transferred from the Department of Homeland Security to HHS.

HHS, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.