The internal watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning on Tuesday that that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency lost track of tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children, ABC News reported.
The interim report sent to Congress and obtained by ABC News states that in the past five years, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to report for their immigration court hearing and that ICE was "not able to account" for their whereabouts.
Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in his report: "Without an ability to monitor the location and status of [unaccompanied migrant children], ICE has no assurance [they] are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor."
Cuffari also urged ICE to "take immediate action to ensure the safety of [unaccompanied children] residing in the United States."
During his investigation, Cuffari found that immigration officials had moved over 448,000 children from ICE custody to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with placing them with sponsors or in foster homes.
Cuffari, who visited 10 ICE field offices and interviewed about 100 officials, determined the agency "cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released ... and [then] did not appear as scheduled in immigration court."
Cuffari's report cited a number of pain points for the agency, saying that "ICE still lacks adequate staffing, which can limit officers' time and ability to check the location or immigration case status of migrants."
The issue of immigration figures to be one of the top concerns for voters in the upcoming U.S. elections. Since being chosen as the Democrat presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris has presented herself as tough on illegal immigration, according to her campaign staff.
Illegal immigration has long been a key issue of former President Donald Trump, who has said he will initiate "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country" if he's elected.
Since President Joe Biden took office, there have been nearly 10 million illegal border crossings into the U.S.