Trump directs ICE agents to find, deport unaccompanied migrant children

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Trump medication is directing migration agents to way down hundreds of thousands of migrant children who entered the United States without their parents, expanding the president's wide deportation effort, according to an interior memo reviewed by Reuters.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo outlines an unprecedented propulsion to people migrant children who crossed the borderline illegally arsenic unaccompanied minors. It lays retired 4 phases of implementation, opening with a readying signifier connected January 27, though it did not supply a commencement day for enforcement operations.

More than 600,000 migrant children person crossed the U.S.-Mexico borderline without a genitor oregon ineligible guardian since 2019, according to authorities data, arsenic the fig of migrants caught crossing illegally reached grounds levels.

Tens of thousands person been ordered deported implicit the aforesaid clip frame, including much than 31,000 for missing tribunal hearings, migration tribunal information show.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to a petition for remark astir the memo and the Trump administration's plans.

During his archetypal term, Trump introduced a "zero tolerance" argumentation that led to the separation of migrant children from their parents astatine the border. The children were sent to children's shelters tally by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a authorities bureau housed wrong the Department of Health and Human Services, portion their parents were detained oregon deported.

The separation of families, including babies from nursing mothers, was met with wide planetary outrage. Trump halted the argumentation successful 2018, though up to 1,000 children whitethorn inactive stay separated from parents, according to Lee Gelernt, the pb American Civil Liberties Union lawyer successful a related ineligible challenge.

As good arsenic enforcing migration laws, the memo, headlined the “Unaccompanied Alien Children Joint Initiative Field Implementation,” said the inaugural aims to guarantee that children are not victims of quality trafficking oregon different forms of exploitation.

The memo said the children would beryllium served a announcement to look successful migration tribunal oregon deported, if deportation orders were pending against them.

In the memo, ICE said it had collected information from a fig of sources connected unaccompanied minors and sorted them into 3 precedence groups, "flight risk", "public safety" and "border security."

It directed agents to absorption connected children deemed “flight risks” - including those ordered deported for missing tribunal hearings and those released to sponsors who are not humor relatives.

The bureau uses respective databases and authorities records to way down targets.

DNA tests

Under the law, migrants who person exhausted their ineligible options to enactment tin beryllium removed, adjacent if they are children. But the U.S. authorities has constricted resources and typically prioritizes arresting adults with transgression records.

Unaccompanied children began arriving successful ample numbers a decennary agone owed to unit and economical instability successful their location countries - and U.S. migration policies that enabled them to participate and often remain.

The bulk are from Central America and Mexico. Some migrated to articulation parents already successful the United States; galore traveled with household members oregon smugglers.

From ORR custody, children are released to sponsors, usually parents oregon relatives, arsenic migration authorities measurement their cases to stay successful the country.

Trump's borderline czar Tom Homan has repeatedly claimed that immoderate 300,000 unaccompanied children went missing during Biden's presidency and were astatine hazard of trafficking and exploitation. Beyond archetypal follow-up calls, ORR was not obligated to way the whereabouts of the children aft they near custody. Many are present adults oregon surviving with their parents.

Individual ICE tract offices volition find “how to champion locate, marque contact, and service migration documents arsenic due for idiosyncratic targets, erstwhile conducting enforcement actions,” involving unaccompanied children, the memo said.

Because the children often unrecorded successful households with adults without authorization to beryllium successful the United States, their addresses could besides assistance ICE boost its wide apprehension numbers.

During his archetypal administration, Trump utilized information gathered to vet sponsors of unaccompanied children to people them for arrests.

Since taking bureau connected January 20, Trump has taken steps to tighten vetting of sponsors.

These see requiring sponsors and big household members to taxable fingerprints for inheritance checks, according to guidance issued past week.

The Trump medication has besides expanded its entree to ORR's database of children and their sponsors, 2 sources acquainted with the substance said.

Mellissa Harper, a erstwhile ICE authoritative who present heads ORR, told a unit gathering connected Thursday that the bureau plans to usage DNA tests to found familial relationships, 1 of the sources said. It was unclear whether DNA tests would beryllium utilized lone connected cases that raised a reddish flag, oregon connected a regular basis.

Harper said astatine the gathering that ICE was pursuing 247,000 tips related to fraud, trafficking and smuggling of unaccompanied minors and referring cases to the FBI for further investigation, the idiosyncratic said.

(Reporting by Marisa Taylor and Ted Hesson successful Washington, D.C. and Kristina Cooke successful San Francisco; Editing by Mary Milliken and Suzanne Goldenberg)