Tens of thousands of recent immigrants gave gov't minders the slip

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has lost track of tens of thousands of immigrant families apprehended after crossing the border illegally, the Associated Press reported today.

ICE processed nearly 60,000 immigrants traveling as families from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala in the last year. And with nowhere to house them during court proceedings, the government released many with orders to report back in 15 days.

But at a private Homeland Security meeting—a secret recording of which was obtained by the Associated Press—immigration officials said 70 percent of those families never checked back in with ICE officials. That means, according to AP calculations, the government has lost track of as many as 41,000 families.

The recording featured immigration advocates and immigration officials bantering over how to avoid detaining families with legitimate asylum claims while not allowing them or other released families to disappear. Officials throughout the Obama administration have dodged or refused to answer questions on the whereabouts of released families at least 19 times during the summer, making the recording something of a bombshell.

The Homeland Security Department did not dispute the recording’s authenticity.

ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told the Associated Press the missing families may still report to future court dates, and a “significant” number of deportation cases are still pending. According to the Justice Department, about 75 percent of undocumented immigrants usually report to their court dates. Nonprofit organizations who work with immigrants report a much higher percentage of court date appearances.

Once in court, families will encounter another of the nation’s immigration woes. Federal immigration courts face a backlog of more than 375,000 pending cases—and ICE detains more than that many non-citizens each year. In August, the Justice Department and immigration courts decided to expedite court dates for unaccompanied minors to minimize their time in the system. But others can wait for years.

Since May, about 860 people traveling as families caught at the border received final deportation orders, an official said on the recording. Only 14 of them had reported for deportation. WORLD has previously reported the deportation process can take months, and some could evade deportation.

“With this administration’s failure to enforce our immigration laws, it is no surprise that 70 percent of the families released take their chances to stay here and don’t show up for their follow-up appointments or court dates,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told the Associated Press.

Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have also been apprehended by immigration officers since last October. ICE is set to expand its family detention capacity throughout the Southwest from hundreds to thousands by the end of the year, but how that will serve tens of thousands is unclear.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.