1,500 Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Not 'Lost,' HHS Statement Clarifies

The federal government reportedly lost track of nearly 1,500 unaccompanied immigrant children it had placed into homes of sponsors. The Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary, Eric Hargan on Monday, issued a statement that “the claim that the unaccompanied alien children (UAC) are 'lost' is completely false.”

He said the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) voluntarily made calls in 2016 as a follow up on the release of UAC. This was to ensure that the UAC and their sponsors did not require additional services. This additional step which was not done previously is being used to spread misinformation, Hargan said.

He also added that the sponsors did not respond or could not be reached when the call was made. This could be because they themselves are illegal aliens and do not want to reached by the federal authorities. "Their sponsors – who are usually parents or family members and in all cases have been vetted for criminality and ability to provide for them – simply did not respond or could not be reached when this voluntary call was made," the statement read.

“In many cases, the HSS has been put in the position of placing illegal aliens with individuals who helped arrange for them to enter the country illegally. This makes the immediate crisis worse and creates perverse incentive for further violation of federal immigration laws,” Hargan, in the statement, added.

On April 26, Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary of Administration for Children and Families for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), made a statement at a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee that ORR attempted to reach 7,635 UAC and their sponsors from October to December 2017.

He told the senators that of this number, approximately 86 percent of the sponsors were ready to participate in the safety and well-being call from ORR.

“From these calls, ORR learnt that 6,075 UAC remained with their sponsors while 28 UAC had run away, five had been removed from the United States, and 52 had relocated to live with a non-sponsor. ORR was unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 UAC,” he said.

"I understand that it has been HHS' long-standing interpretation of the law that ORR is not legally responsible for children after they are released from ORR care," Wagner said, CNN reported.

“You are the worst foster parents in the world. You don’t even know where they are. And we’re failing. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. And when we fail for kids, it makes me angry. Where are these kids? Why don’t we know where they are, and how come after months of investigation by this committee, we don’t seem to be getting any better answers, Mr. Wagner?” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota asked of Wagner.

When a child crosses into the U.S. alone, the custody is transferred from the Department of Homeland Security to HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. The child is then released to a sponsor chosen by the ORR after background checks, spokesperson of the Health and Human Services told Snopes.

“When a UAC is placed with a sponsor, he or she ceases to be in the custody of the U.S. government and all HHS-provided subsistence — food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and education — ends at that point and the child becomes the responsibility of his or her parent, guardian or sponsor,” the spokesperson said.