DHS watchdog warns of 'urgent issue' after immigration officials allegedly lose track of unaccompanied children

The Department of Homeland Security's internal watchdog says it has uncovered an "urgent issue" with how immigration officials handle cases involving unaccompanied migrant children, warning in a new report that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been unable to keep track of all unaccompanied minors released from government custody.

The interim report, sent to Congress on Tuesday and obtained by ABC News, said that -- in the past five years -- more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings, and ICE was "not able to account" for all of their locations.

By law, the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for the care of unaccompanied migrant children, so after they are initially taken into custody by U.S. authorities, it is ICE's role "to ensure [their] timely and safe transfer" to HHS, which then often places them in shelters or qualified sponsors' homes.

"Without an ability to monitor the location and status of [unaccompanied migrant children], ICE has no assurance [they] are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor," Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in his interim report.

He urged ICE to "take immediate action to ensure the safety of [unaccompanied children] residing in the United States."

Cuffari's report is part of a broader audit of ICE's ability to track unaccompanied migrant children who have been released or transferred from U.S. custody after entering the country.

According to the interim report, from 2019 to 2023 -- a period spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations -- immigration officials transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children from ICE custody to HHS.

After interviewing more than 100 officials and visiting ten ICE field offices, the inspector general found that immigration officials "cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released ... and [then] did not appear as scheduled in immigration court."

When unaccompanied migrant children do not show up to court, federal judges will often issue several continuances -- to postpone the hearings for months -- until they are left with no choice but to issue deportation orders.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, ICE said it "is committed to the protection and well-being of children and works closely with [HHS] and other federal partners to fulfill its obligations under law."

Earlier this year, ABC News attended several hearings at immigration court in Hyattsville, Maryland, where federal judges were forced to issue removal orders for unaccompanied migrant children who did not appear for their scheduled hearings. And for those who do appear, only 56% are represented by counsel, according to the Department of Justice.

ABC News previously reported that tens of thousands of unaccompanied young migrants are representing themselves before federal immigration judges due to a litany of issues crippling the court system.

In his interim report, Cuffari said that as of May 2024, more than 291,000 unaccompanied children had not been placed into removal proceedings because ICE had not served them notices to appear or scheduled a court date for them. Accordingly, the number of unaccompanied children who failed to appear for their court dates "may have been much larger" than 32,000 had ICE issued notices or scheduled court dates for those 291,000 children.

"Immigration court hearings are often ICE's only opportunity to observe and screen [children] for trafficking indicators or other safety concerns," the interim report said. So, according to the report, when ICE fails to service notices to appear, or schedule court dates, that "reduces opportunities to verify their safety."

The report cited a number of key challenges for ICE, noting that, among other issues, "ICE still lacks adequate staffing, which can limit officers' time and ability to check the location or immigration case status of migrants."

"Resource constraints also impact [their] ability to issue [notices] to all [unaccompanied children] after their release from HHS' custody," the report said.

The report also said that ICE is burdened by "manual, multi-step processes to share information on [children] who do not appear in court."

The watchdog suggested that Homeland Security officials "develop and implement an automated system to document court appearances and maintain address information of unaccompanied migrant children."

Agency officials agreed with the watchdog's recommendation to incorporate an automated tracking mechanism, according to a brief response included with the 18-page interim report. But they also suggested that the assessments in the watchdog's interim report failed to articulate some structural challenges that complicate their ability to track migrant children and "therefore lead to misunderstandings about the process."

In its statement, ICE said the interim report's findings may be "misleading and may be misconstrued because they fail to acknowledge key facts," including that ICE does not issue any notices to appear for unaccompanied children "until after they have been placed with sponsors who have been vetted by HHS."

That can cause significant delays in issuing such notices, according to ICE.