The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General submitted a memo to ICE that reveals ICE cannot monitor the location and status of all unaccompanied migrant children released from DHS custody and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody.
ORR is supposed to promote the health, well-being and stability of unaccompanied children through certain services. The Office of Inspector General also reported ICE could not initiate removal proceedings as needed.
Congressman Morgan Griffith said the report confirms his “deepest fears.”
“I have sounded alarms (about this issue) for years during the Biden-Harris era,” Griffith said. “As a former domestic relations attorney in Virginia, I am astounded by the negligence of our federal agencies when handling the release of these children to sponsors who are not sufficiently vetted.”
Griffith warned the safety of the children is “in jeopardy.”
“We have an obligation to ensure these migrant kids are not in danger of exploitation, being trafficked or put into forced labor,” he added.
