Up to 323,000 Migrant Children Missing in US, DHS Watchdog Finds

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are unsure of the whereabouts of at least 32,000 migrant children in the U.S., a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog found.

The Details: “As of May 2024, ICE had not served [court dates to] more than 291,000 UCs who therefore do not yet have an immigration court date,” the report states. There are also 32,000 children who didn’t attend their court dates issued by ICE.

For Context: According to the report, from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, 448,000 children were transferred from ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 

Key Quotes: In the report, Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said ICE has no assurance the children “are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” He added, “Although we identified more than 32,000 UCs who did not appear for their immigration court dates, that number may have been much larger had ICE issued [court dates] to the more than 291,000 UCs who were not placed into removal proceedings.”

How The Media Covered It: ABC News (Lean Left bias) noted that the report said ICE lacks sufficient staffing. The New York Post (Lean Right bias) spoke to a former HHS employee who said HHS was not properly vetting migrant children’s sponsors and inadvertently making them vulnerable to human traffickers. Newsweek (Center bias) and Newsmax (Right bias) framed their headlines around the 32,000 figure.