Findlay Times

Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), who has traveled to the southern border four times, released a statement today following the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report detailing nearly 300,000 illegal immigrant children unaccounted for in the United States.

"The open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration have led to a national security and humanitarian crisis unlike we have ever seen along our southern border. With the release of this DHS report, the pressing question remains: where are these missing children? It is deeply disturbing that, according to the report, Immigration and Customs Enforcement have 'no assurance' these missing immigrant children are 'safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.' This is completely unacceptable. The Biden-Harris administration must be held accountable for this extreme dereliction of duty," Latta stated.

An excerpt from the DHS report reads:

“As of May 2024, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not served a Notice to Appear (NTA) or scheduled a court date for more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children (UCs). In each ICE location we visited, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) could not serve NTAs on all UCs. At one location we visited, 34,823 (84 percent) of 41,638 UCs in the local area had not been served NTAs to initiate immigration proceedings…Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.”

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office:

- Over 10 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide,

- Over 8.2 million illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border,

- Roughly 2 million known gotaways who evaded U.S. Border Patrol.

In March 2021, Vice President Harris was appointed by President Biden as his Border Czar. Since then, illegal immigrant crossings at the southern border reached over 300,000 in a single month—the highest number of illegal crossings recorded.