“Major deficiencies persist that leave the children at significant risk for trafficking and abuse and undermine our immigration system,” said the report by the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigations subcommittee. Once they’re with sponsors, HHS has trouble tracking them. In figures originally released in April, when officials tried calling 7,635 children late last year who’d been placed sponsors, they were uncertain where about 1 in 5 were. When HHS by law turns over children to DHS when they reach 18, it often doesn’t provide required recommendations for appropriate care. HHS has stopped providing legal services to children newly placed with sponsors because it believes it has only “shaky” authority to do so.

Source: National Post August 15, 2018 21:05 UTC