FACT FOCUS: Claims that more than 300,000 migrant children are missing lack context

Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, recently claimed that hundreds of thousands of migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied are missing, then criticized the border policies of the Biden administration and Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, repeated the claim during Tuesday evening’s debate.

“We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost,” he said as he met Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in what will likely be the final debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.

But immigration experts say the claims about missing migrant children lack significant context.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: The Biden administration has lost more than 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

THE FACTS: This statement misrepresents the information a report from August published by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, which accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of failing to consistently “monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children” once they are released from federal government custody .

The report notes that more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children had not received a summons to appear in court by May 2024. In addition, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children were issued notices to appear but then failed to show up for immigration court hearings. These numbers came from ICE and covered a period from October 2018 to September 2023. During that period, a total of 448,820 unaccompanied children were released by ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.

But experts say it’s an exaggeration to label about 300,000 children as “lost” or “missing.”

“This is not a ‘missing children’ problem; it is a problem of ‘missing paperwork,'” Jonathan Beier, associate director of research and evaluation for the Acacia Center for Justice’s Unaccompanied Children Program, wrote in an email.

Moreover, President Joe Biden did not enter the White House until halfway through this period. It covers about 15 months of Trump’s presidency and does not specify how many children arrived in the U.S. under each president.

Experts say there are many reasons why the children might not have appeared at the hearing or received a notice to appear in the first place. For example, they will only receive a notice to appear if removal proceedings against them have begun, and if ICE had not initiated that removal process, they would not have received a notice in the first place.

A lack of communication between government agencies can result in a notice being sent to the wrong address if it is updated at one agency and not the other. A child’s guardian may not be able to take the child to court, perhaps because the child lives on the other side of the state.

The report does not provide any explanation.

“All of these factors could explain some of the shortcomings and a conclusion that the children are missing could be very, very premature,” said Raul Pinto, deputy legal director for transparency at the American Immigration Council.

Carmen Hills, a spokesperson for ICE, said the agency agreed with the inspector general’s recommendations to improve information sharing within ICE and externally with HHS, but disagreed with the suggestion that the children are missing .

“We are concerned that the report’s findings are misleading and could be misinterpreted because they fail to recognize key facts,” she said.

Hills said ICE generally does not issue court notices to unaccompanied children “until they have been placed with sponsors who have been vetted by HHS” so they can settle and seek legal help.

Representatives for HHS and Vance did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

A unaccompanied migrant child is defined by the U.S. government as someone who is under the age of 18, does not have lawful immigration status, and does not have a parent or guardian in the country who can take custody of him or her. When apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security, they are transferred to HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.

They are then placed “in the least restrictive environment that is in the best interest of the child.” the resettlement agency said. These may include shelters, foster care or residential treatment centers. If it’s possible, children are released to sponsorsoften family members who can care for them.

Removal proceedings can be initiated by ICE and the Department of Justice. Some children can legally stay in the U.S. if they qualify for asylum, special visas for victims of abuse, human trafficking and other crimes, or other forms of immigration relief. In those cases, a removal procedure should never start.

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.