President Donald Trump’s administration reportedly directed immigrant agents to track “hundreds of thousands” of immigrant children in the United States for deportation.
The initiative claims that internal documents from Immigration, Customs and Law Enforcement (ICE) (ICE) are titled “Implementation of Joint Initiative for Unaccompanied Foreign Children”.
According to government data, since 2019, 600,000 immigrant children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without legal guardians or parents.
The plan sets out the implementation of four phases of the plan, saying minors will receive notices to appear in immigration courts or if the deportation order is not appealed to them.
ICE collects data on unaccompanied minors and divides them into three groups: “flight risk”, “public safety” and “border safety”. Agents were told to prioritize “flight risks” for minors, including those deported due to missing court hearings, sources said.
The Trump administration’s move comes after Republicans claimed last year that the Biden administration “lost 300,000” immigrant children — a figure expert and advocate said lack of context.
The claims come from a report by the DHS internal regulator last year that found that the ICE did not send notices appear to have exceeded 291,000 unaccompanied immigrant children.
Internal regulators warn that over 32,000 unaccompanied immigrant children have failed to appear in immigration court hearings over the past five years, and that the ICE “cannot state” all of its locations.
“The unique needs of children require the government to ensure a level of care to take into account their vulnerability while also deciding whether they need long-term protection in the United States,” said Wendy Young, president of children who need defense, to issue a statement to ABC News .
“To be successful, the government must work with legal service providers and a vast network of private sector Pro Bono partners, who provide millions of dollars in free legal services to ensure children understand the process and can share what they seek to be safe Reason for the United States.
