ICE unable to track nearly 300K immigrant children: DHS report

The 14-page report was published earlier this month
More than 300,000 children never received a court date
32K-plus children did not attend immigration hearings between 2019-23

(NewsNation) — A new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report argues the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) cannot account for unaccompanied immigrant children at the border.

On Aug. 19, the DHS published a 14-page report revealing more than 32,000 unaccompanied children did not attend their immigration hearings between the fiscal years of 2019 and 2023.

What’s more, nearly 300,000 of these kids that came across the southern border alone never even got a court date whatsoever.

Essentially, Border Patrol doesn’t have anything to do with these young children. Instead, ICE retains the responsibility to walk through the immigration process with these children.

NewsNation has reached out and is yet to hear back from the agency.

ICE did respond to this Office of Inspector General report, saying that the notices to appear were not given out to children until they were placed with sponsors, and at that point, they were in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

ICE also stated it is “committed to the protection and well-being of children and works closely with [HHS] and other federal partners to fulfill its obligations under law.”

NewsNation can confirm the Homeland Security Committee for the GOP House Republicans is actually planning a hearing following this DHS report.

We can also confirm that Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La. — a high-ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions — sent a letter to Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders requesting that a committee hold a hearing.

Cassidy is citing the DOJ lawsuit filed against the primary contractor who houses unaccompanied children in shelters, Southwest Key Programs.

The DOJ alleges these children endured “severe and pervasive sexual harassment by employees” and Southwest Key “failed to take sufficient action to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment to protect the children in its care.”

According to HHS data, the Biden administration has actually released more unaccompanied children who have crossed the southern border into the U.S. compared to the last two previous administrations.

The Biden administration has not wanted to remove children, adamant that unaccompanied children can stay in the United States, but again, finding out where they go and keeping track of them has proven to be a problem under this administration, according to people on the ground.