First appearance on FOX: A top Republican senator who has long challenged the Biden administration over the issue of missing migrant children is accusing the administration of “reckless disregard” after a watchdog group found officials had found tens of thousands of missing migrant children.
“I am writing today to express my deep concerns about the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) recent report, which revealed serious mismanagement regarding the safety and welfare of Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UC). Specifically, under your Department's watch, tens of thousands of migrant children have gone missing, leaving them extremely vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Unfortunately, this is just the latest failure in the ongoing Biden-Harris border crisis,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Her letter came as the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general sent a report to Congress stating that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children were killed in the past five years. [UCs] Of those who did not show up for their immigration court hearings, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not account for the whereabouts of those who did not appear.
Homeland Security Inspector General discovers ICE has lost tens of thousands of migrant children
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, speaks on the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
“An ongoing audit to evaluate ICE's ability to monitor the location and status of immigrants and refugees released or transferred from Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody found that ICE transferred more than 448,000 immigrants and refugees to HHS between fiscal years 2019 and 2023,” the internal audit report said.
“However, ICE was unable to track the whereabouts of all UCs who were released from HHS and did not appear as scheduled in immigration court. ICE reported that more than 32,000 UCs did not appear for their immigration court hearings from FY2019 through FY23,” the report states.
The numbers may be even worse than recorded: About 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children are still not in removal proceedings because ICE routinely fails to schedule immigration court dates or send notices, according to findings by watchdog groups.
HHS Secretary 'not aware' of reports agency can't contact 85,000 unaccompanied migrant children
Migrants who entered the United States from Mexico through an abandoned railroad track are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Jacumba Hot Springs, San Diego, California, on June 28, 2024. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
In her letter, Blackburn noted that HHS had grilled HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra about earlier reports that about 85,000 migrant children were missing.
“I have asked Secretary Becerra for more information about these unjustified failures to no avail,” she said. “The American people and the families of hundreds of thousands of children deserve an explanation for your disregard for the welfare of children in your care and what your department is doing to address these failures.”
Blackburn asked officials what steps they were taking to address the issues raised in the report and whether ICE had a reliable means of monitoring the whereabouts of unaccompanied minors.
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In response to the report itself, an ICE spokesperson said the agency is committed to the protection and welfare of children, but while it agrees with the IG's recommendations, “we are concerned that the report's findings are misleading and may be misconstrued because they fail to acknowledge important facts.”
“Generally, ICE does not issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) to unaccompanied children until they have been placed with an HHS-vetted sponsor, which allows children time to acclimate to their new environment and an opportunity to consult with legal counsel. Unaccompanied children are entitled to certain procedural protections under our laws and, in many cases, may be eligible for immigration relief from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) rather than the immigration court system,” they said.
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ICE currently files NTAs 120 days after they are issued, unless a migrant is released from HHS custody and placed with a vetted sponsor before then. ICE says doing so allows migrants to seek legal representation and immigration relief and prevents them from getting further stuck in the immigration system.
“In cases where relief is not available, USCIS will issue an NTA. Since last year, ICE has taken steps to automate information sharing regarding attendance at immigration court proceedings for unaccompanied children. We will continue to improve these processes and implement OIG's recommendations,” it added.
Fox News' Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.
