UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a statement from HHS.
Dozens of unaccompanied illegal migrant children were reported missing in Houston, Texas, Reuters reported Friday.
A Houston police detective notified the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the early summer after discovering an apparent pattern of illegal migrant children missing from their sponsors’ homes in the U.S., Reuters reported, citing U.S. government officials and related emails. (RELATED: Democrat-Run Border Town Buses Illegal Migrants To NYC)
The Houston Police Department is “conducting investigations into reports of missing, unaccompanied juveniles,” the department told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent and public information officer Jesus Vasavilbaso, center right, and supervisory agent Carlos Ruiz, right, look for members of the Mexico national guard performing a mirror patrol on the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona, U.S., May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Rebecca Noble
The HHS refugee office reviewed the releases of unaccompanied minor migrants to non-parent sponsors and found that 57 unaccompanied illegal migrant children, including nine who escaped HHS shelters, were reported missing in Houston, according to Reuters.
“HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) takes our responsibility to care for and protect unaccompanied children in our custody seriously, along with ensuring safe placement of vetted sponsors. Anytime we become aware of information that could impact the safety of children, we quickly conduct a full review and put additional safeguards in place if needed,” an HHS spokesperson told the DCNF.
As of Aug. 26, 46 of the illegal migrant children were confirmed safe and there was no evidence of sex or labor trafficking, according to Reuters. Some of the safe illegal migrants are now adults and others left their sponsors to live with family in the U.S.
The number of unaccompanied migrant children has surged as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 128,845 of them at the southern border between October 2021 and July 2022.
Unaccompanied illegal migrant children are released to distant relatives or unrelated adults who were vetted about 15% of the time, according to Reuters.
“There’s a real tension here in terms of how we do releases. For child welfare reasons, we want to make sure that they can get to homes as fast as possible, while we’re also doing the screening necessary to ensure that the homes they are going to are safe and stable,” Mario Bruzzone, a senior policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said, adding that some children run away, according to Reuters.
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