DHS Watchdog Slams ICE Handling of Alien Children
‘At higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor’ — just like I warned over a year ago
By Andrew R. Arthur on August 22, 2024
The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a “management alert” this week with the anodyne header: “ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody”. Read past the title and it’s a harsh indictment of a system created by advocates nearly 16 years ago to protect alien children that has instead fostered their abuse. I warned about many of the issues OIG raised back in March 2023, but without access to OIG’s statistics and analysis, I had no idea how bad things were. If you care about kids, brace yourself.
A Brief History of Well-Intentioned Congressional Mishandling of Alien Children. The term “unaccompanied alien child” (UAC) is defined in statute as:
a child who — (A) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; (B) has not attained 18 years of age; and (C) with respect to whom — (i) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody.
As that definition shows, only alien minors without parents or legal guardians in the United States are considered UACs. Nonetheless, the federal government — and DHS in particular — lumps plenty of kids with parents and guardians here illegally in as UACs.
https://cis.org/Arthur/DHS-Watchdog-Slams-ICE-Handling-Alien-Children
