Overview

• DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told lawmakers that the agencies lacked the ability to monitor children after their release to sponsors, leaving roughly 300,000 missing their immigration court dates.
• The audit found that ICE failed to issue more than 233,000 required notices to appear and that over 43,000 of those children never attended their hearings.
• In a February review, ICE agents visited about 50,000 sponsor addresses, located just 12,347 minors and arrested 403 sponsors for alleged fraud or child endangerment.
• Officials now ask unaccompanied teens aged 14 to 17 if they wish to voluntarily depart the country under expanded self-deportation directives.
• The Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun in-person interviews of prospective sponsors, with law enforcement allowed to participate in vetting processes.