Trump administration officials acknowledged Thursday that they have no system for tracking the tens of thousands of migrant children who are released from federal custody each year after traveling to the United States alone.
Facing heated questions from a Senate subcommittee, officials from the Health and Human Services Department, Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the federal immigration courts each said they were not responsible for following up after the children are handed over to sponsors, most of whom are undocumented relatives or family friends.
“We have neither the authorities nor the appropriations to exercise that degree of oversight,” said Cmdr. Jonathan White of the United States Public Health Service, part of Health and Human Services.
Commander White acknowledged that the government stops keeping tabs on a child after a phone call that is made 30 days after he or she is released, even if no one answers.
