President-elect Donald Trump is named Person of the Year interview with Time magazine This week, President Biden’s administration lost track of more than 300,000 migrant children who crossed the border unaccompanied, saying many of them are in danger or have died. But experts say it distorts the facts.
“We have 325,000 children here under Democratic rule – and this was done by Democrats – who are currently slaves, sex slaves or dead,” Trump said. “And what I’m going to do is try to find out where they are and get them back to their parents.”
Trump repeated similar claims on the campaign trail and Republicans, including the Trump-appointed “border czar.” Tom Homanechoed similar figures in calling for increased border security.
But immigration experts tell CBS News those claims are misleading and misrepresent government data. Moreover, they say, even though some unaccompanied minors have become victims of trafficking or other crimes, the government safely releases most of these children to selected sponsors — often a family member — while their immigration file unfolds.
Possible origins of the number
Republicans began claiming that more than 300,000 unaccompanied children were “lost” after the Department of Homeland Security released a report in August showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had failed to report court summons to 291,000 children between fiscal years. year 2019 and May 2024.
Additionally, 32,000 unaccompanied children failed to appear for immigration court hearings between fiscal years 2019 and 2023.
Notably, about half of this period occurred when Trump was president. The report does not specify how many children missed their court appearances under each administration.
Although the DHS report indicates that children who fail to appear for court hearings may be at higher risk of being trafficked or exploited, it does not specify that the total 323,000 children mentioned are being carried disappeared.
The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for clarification on Trump’s claims.
Experts highlight ICE’s ‘missing paperwork problem’
In response to the DHS report, ICE said Delays in issuing court notifications to some of the 291,000 unaccompanied children may be because some of them are eligible to seek asylum or legal status. In some cases, this process might be allowed to occur before ICE sends them a court date to begin removal proceedings.
“It’s not a problem of missing children; it’s a problem of missing documents,” said Jonathan Beier, associate director of research at the Acacia Center for Justice’s Unaccompanied Children Program. , which helps represent migrant children.
In the case of the 32,000 minors who were unable to make it to immigration court, immigration law experts explained that these minors could miss court for many reasons, including because they did not had not received their summons because ICE did not have their correct address on file.
There are sometimes communication problems between ICE and other government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for finding arrangements for children living in a shelter or sponsor while they wait. a legal procedure.
“I think for the most part, a lot of these children have been placed with loving family members,” said Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council.
What we know about allegations that unaccompanied children face danger
Trump also claimed in the interview that hundreds of thousands of children who crossed the border unaccompanied are “now slaves, sex slaves or dead.” There is no evidence of abuse on this scale.
By law, once unaccompanied minors from foreign countries are detained at the border, they are quickly released to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which aims to place the children in ” the least restrictive framework possible. the best interests of the child. »
The office attempts to place children with sponsors, who can include parents, relatives and guardians, and federal policy requires the government to vet those sponsors through interviews or background checks.
Despite these guarantees, some migrant children have found themselves in dangerous situations, although the exact number is not known.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement is also expected to follow up with sponsors approximately 30 days after the child’s release, but a percentage of those phone calls have gone unanswered under the Biden and Trump administrations.
Republicans and Democrats have already cited these missed calls to argue that unaccompanied children have been lost by these administrations. However, unanswered calls do not necessarily mean these children are missing or in danger, experts say.
“It doesn’t mean the child is in a dangerous place. It means someone didn’t answer the phone,” said Jennifer Podkul, head of global policy and advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense, an organization that provides legal representation to unaccompanied children.
