Judicial Watch Files FOIA for Info on ICE Plan to Find Illegal Immigrant Minors Lost under Biden

The Biden administration failed to monitor hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant minors who entered the United States through Mexico and tens of thousands simply vanished from the government’s radar, according to a federal audit. Judicial Watch has covered the scandal extensively and is investigating the Trump administration’s plan to locate the young migrants, known as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC). A few weeks ago, several media outlets reported that the Trump administration directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track down UAC to, among other things, prevent them from being trafficked or exploited. As the “premier” Homeland Security law enforcement agency created after 9/11 to safeguard the nation and preserve national security, ICE is responsible for monitoring the location and status of all UAC inside the U.S. but somehow the agency lost track of around half a million.

This is important since many of the minors have been victims of abuse and forced labor but also because some have committed violent crimes after being released by the government into American communities. This includes a teen from El Salvador who raped and murdered a Maryland woman, two teens—one from El Salvador and other from Guatemala—charged with raping a 14-year-old girl at a public high school, and a pair of 17-year-old Central Americans who executed a Massachusetts man by shooting him in the head shortly after crossing the southwest border. Both had ties to the famously violent gang known as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), renowned for drug distribution, murder, rape, robbery, home invasions, kidnappings, vandalism, and other brutal crimes.

The administration’s new directive reportedly orders ICE to sort UAC into three groups—flight risk, public safety and border security—with officers told to prioritize flight risk minors, which include those with deportation orders for failing to appear in court hearings. Judicial Watch has reached out to ICE and its umbrella agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to obtain more details about the plan but has not heard back from either one. So, a few days ago, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking DHS and its components to provide records of communications about UAC initiatives, including the recently issued order titled “Unaccompanied Alien Children Joint Initiative Field Implementation.” Judicial Watch is asking for records and communications about the four phases of implementation referenced in the initiative, including communication between ICE and DHS leadership and information about identification and categorizing of UAC into groups such as flight risk, public safety, and border security. We also requested records of consultation with legal service providers, child welfare experts or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerning the rights or welfare of unaccompanied minors under this initiative.

Under U.S. law the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is responsible for caring for UAC, which are overwhelmingly males over the age of 14, according to government figures. They come from Guatemala (32%), Honduras (20%), Mexico (20%), El Salvador (8%), and “other” (19%). More than half a million entered the country during the Biden administration and Uncle Sam has spent a fortune to provide them with shelter, food, an education, medical care, and recreational activities before and after they are released to sponsors throughout the nation. The government is supposed to keep track of the minors even after they are released to sponsors, though a recently published DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) report confirms that the Biden administration lost track of hundreds of thousands of UAC, placed them with dangerous sponsors and restricted information sharing with law enforcement. Tens of thousands of UAC release addresses were blank, undeliverable, or missing apartment numbers.

The government’s UAC program has for years been rocked by many other problems that have put young migrants at risk, including physical and sexual abuse at U.S.-funded shelters. In 2021 Judicial Watch obtained records from HHS documenting 33 incidents of physical and sexual abuse during a one-month period at shelters where the government houses UAC until they are relocated with a sponsor. That year a federal audit blasted the agency for failing to protect UAC from sexual misconduct at the facilities. During a six-month period alone, investigators from the HHS Inspector General’s office uncovered more than 750 incidents involving sexual misconduct at dozens of shelters housing minor detainees.