Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Patrick Lechleitner this week demanding answers after a recent report revealed that ICE has lost track of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children over the last five years.
A devastating new report released last week confirms ICE lost track of at least 32,000 migrant children — but that number could be as high as 323,000.
Under Biden-Harris, @HHSGov also lost track of 85,000 migrant children.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) August 29, 2024
On August 19, an 18-page report by DHS’ Office of Inspector General titled “Management Alert—ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody ” confirmed that ICE lost track of at least 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children who failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from Fiscal Year 2019 through Fiscal Year 2023.
In addition, the report found that ICE may have lost track of up to 323,000 unaccompanied migrant children, as an additional 291,000 were found to have not been placed in removal proceedings and were never given a court date.
“Although we identified more than 32,000 UCs [unaccompanied migrant children] who did not appear for their immigration court dates, that number may have been much larger had ICE issued NTAs to the more than 291,000 UCs who were not placed into removal proceedings,” the report said.
“Based on our audit work and according to ICE officials, UCs who did not appear in immigration court are considered more at risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” the report further admitted.
In the letter sent to Mayorkas and Lechleitner on Wednesday, Blackburn called the latest revelations a “tragedy,” saying, “I find this discrepancy unacceptable, and your dereliction of duty has placed these precious children in harm’s way.”
“Sadly, this tragedy is not surprising given the Biden-Harris administration’s past failures with respect to the well-being and safety of migrant children,” Blackburn added. “The American people, and the families of these hundreds of thousands of children, deserve answers about your reckless disregard for the wellbeing of the children in your care and what your department is doing to address these failures. “
Blackburn then went on to pose a list of questions to Mayorkas and Lechleitner, which she requested answers to by Wednesday, September 4.
This month’s report from DHS’ Office of Inspector General comes one year after it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lost contact with 85,000 migrant children who had been placed with sponsors across the nation instead of being sent back to their countries of origin.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
