Tag Archives: migrant children

The Possible Consequences Of This Are Heartbreaking

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On August 19th, The Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a report about America’s inability to keep track of unaccompanied children who cross our southern border.

The report states:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could not monitor the location and status of all unaccompanied migrant children (UCs) or initiate removal proceedings as needed. During our ongoing audit to assess ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of UCs who were released or transferred from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we learned ICE transferred more than 448,000 UCs to HHS from fiscal years 2019 to 2023. However, ICE was not able to account for the location of all UCs who were released by HHS and did not appear as scheduled in immigration court. ICE reported more than 32,000 UCs failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from FYs 2019 to 2023.

Additionally, even though HHS is responsible for the care and custody of UCs, ICE did not always inform HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) when UCs failed to appear in immigration court after release from HHS’ custody. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers at only one of the eight field offices we visited stated they attempted to locate the UCs. ICE also did not serve a Notice to Appear (NTA) on all UCs, after release from HHS custody, who warranted placement in removal proceedings under 8 U.S. Code Section 1229(a). As of May 2024, ICE had not served NTAs on more than 291,000 UCs who therefore do not yet have an immigration court date.

These issues occurred, in part, because ICE does not have an automated process for sharing information internally between the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) and ERO, and externally with stakeholders, such as HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ), regarding UCs who do not appear in immigration court. Additionally, ICE ERO has not developed a formal policy or process to follow up on UCs who did not appear in court, has limited oversight for monitoring UCs, and faced resource limitations.

This is one of many reasons we need to control immigration at our southern border.

Where Is The Money Actually Going?

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On Friday, The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Biden Administration’s Office of Resettlement lost track of almost 100,000 migrant children. At the same time, it has also quadrupled the amount of money awarded to contractors responsible for placing migrant children with responsible adults.

The article reports:

The Office of Refugee Resettlement doled out upwards of $6 billion in 2021 and 2022 to contractors and nonprofit groups—up from $1.7 billion in 2020—according to records obtained by the Functional Government Institute and provided to the Washington Free Beacon. The taxpayer funds were supposed to be used to help place 264,000 unaccompanied children with adult relatives or sponsors with whom they could await court dates, though the agency lost track of almost 100,000 of those kids.

The massive increase in grants is attributed primarily to more than $5 billion in no-bid contracts doled out to three companies, a practice Democrats such as Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D.) and Vice President Kamala Harris decried during the Trump administration. Among the companies that benefited from the Biden administration’s largesse: the San Antonio-based nonprofit Family Endeavors, which inked a $579 million no-bid contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement in March 2021.

It was only a problem when Republicans were doing it!

The article concludes:

“Putting aside the eye-popping increases in funds to house and transport migrant children—and the potential for rampant waste, fraud, and abuse—these records provide early receipts for the cartel-friendly immigration policy that actually endangers children,” said Functional Government Initiative communications director Peter McGinnis. “The federal government’s failure to exercise existing authority has created nothing short of a humanitarian crisis.”

The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.

Unfortunately, our government does not do many things well. If the border were closed, we might be able to take care of the few unaccompanied children that sneak through, but there is no way to handle to flood of children that is currently coming through. The real tragedy is that a large percentage of these children will wind up being sex trafficked and other horrible outcomes. This is a disgrace for a supposedly civilized country.