Unaccompanied Children: DHS and HHS Have Taken Steps to Improve Transfers and Monitoring of Care, but Actions Still Needed

ORR is responsible for coordinating and implementing the care and placement of unaccompanied children—that is, children who enter the United States with no lawful immigration status. The number of these children taken into custody by DHS and placed in ORR's care rose from about 6,600 in fiscal year 2011 to nearly 57,500 in fiscal year 2014, many coming from Central America. Though declining somewhat, the number has remained well above historical levels. In fiscal year 2017, DHS referred 40,810 such children to ORR.

This testimony discusses efforts by DHS and HHS to improve the placement and care of unaccompanied children in four key areas: (1) the process by which unaccompanied children are transferred from DHS to ORR custody; (2) how ORR monitors the care of unaccompanied children in its custody; (3) how ORR identifies and screens sponsors before children are transferred to their care; and (4) what is known about services these children receive after they leave ORR custody.

This testimony is based primarily on the findings from two prior GAO reports: a 2015 report on actions needed to ensure unaccompanied children receive required care in DHS custody; and a 2016 report on further actions HHS could take to monitor their care. This testimony also includes updated information on the progress agencies have made in implementing GAO's recommendations, and more recent statistics from publicly available sources.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have agreed to establish a joint collaborative process for the referral and placement of unaccompanied children, but the process has not yet been implemented. In 2015, GAO reported that the interagency process for referring unaccompanied children from DHS to HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelters was inefficient and vulnerable to error, and that each agency's role and responsibilities were unclear. GAO recommended that DHS and HHS jointly develop and implement an interagency process with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, as well as procedures to disseminate placement decisions, for all agencies involved. In February 2018, HHS officials told GAO that the agency was reviewing a draft of the DHS-HHS joint concept of operations.

ORR has reported taking steps to improve monitoring of grantees that provided services to unaccompanied children. In 2016, GAO reported that ORR relied on grantees to document and annually report on the care they provide for unaccompanied children, such as housing and educational, medical, and therapeutic services, but documents were often missing and ORR was not able to complete all of its planned visits. GAO recommended that ORR review its monitoring program to ensure that onsite visits are conducted in a timely manner, that case files are systematically reviewed, and that grantees properly document the services they provide. Since 2016, ORR has reported that its grantee monitoring has improved, with more timely completion of on-site monitoring of all its grantees.

ORR relies on grantees to identify and screen sponsors before placing children with them. In 2016, GAO reported that most unaccompanied children from certain Central American countries were released to a parent or other relative, in accordance with ORR policy (see figure).

Sponsors' Relationship to Unaccompanied Children from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (Released from Custody from January 7, 2014, through April 17, 2015)

In 2016, GAO reported that limited information was available on the services provided to children after they leave ORR care, and recommended that HHS develop processes to ensure its post-release activities provide reliable and useful summary data. Subsequent data from ORR indicate that the percentage of children receiving these services has increased, from about 10 percent in fiscal year 2014, to about 32 percent in fiscal year 2017. Also, in August 2017, ORR officials said that new case reporting requirements had been added to ORR's policy guide; however, further steps are needed to ensure the systematic collection of these data to provide useful information on post-release services across agencies, as GAO recommended.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss efforts by the Department of  Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS) to improve the process of placing and providing care for  unaccompanied children—that is, children who enter the United States  with no lawful immigration status. The number of unaccompanied  children apprehended by DHS officials and subsequently placed in the  care of HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) increased from  nearly 6,600 in fiscal year 2011 to nearly 57,500 in fiscal year 2014. In  particular, the number of unaccompanied children from three countries— El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—increased dramatically over this  time. While the number of children DHS placed in ORR’s care declined  through much of fiscal year 2015, it subsequently began increasing again  and has remained well above historical levels. More recent data from the  U.S. Border Patrol suggest that DHS apprehended nearly 60,000  unaccompanied children at the southwest border in fiscal year 2016 and  more than 41,000 in fiscal year 2017. Also, according to ORR data, DHS  referred 40,810 unaccompanied children to ORR in fiscal year 2017, and  in the first 6 months of fiscal year 2018, DHS apprehended nearly 22,000  unaccompanied children.

My statement today will focus on efforts made by DHS and HHS to  improve the placement and care of unaccompanied children in four key  areas: (1) the process by which unaccompanied children are transferred  from DHS to ORR custody; (2) how ORR monitors the care of  unaccompanied children in its custody; (3) how ORR identifies and  screens sponsors before children are transferred to their care; and (4)  what is known about services and the status of removal proceedings for  children after they leave ORR custody. My statement is based primarily  on the findings from two prior GAO reports: a 2015 report on actions  needed to ensure unaccompanied children receive required care in DHS  custody; and a 2016 report on further actions HHS could take to monitor  their care. For detailed descriptions of the methodologies used, see our  prior reports. Additionally, we obtained and analyzed information and  documentation on actions DHS and HHS have taken to address our  recommendations in these prior two reports. The work upon which this  statement is based was conducted in accordance with generally accepted  government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan  and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide  a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit  objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provided a reasonable  basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, responsibility for the  apprehension, temporary detention, transfer, and repatriation of  unaccompanied children is delegated to DHS; and responsibility for  coordinating and implementing the care and placement of  unaccompanied children is delegated HHS’s Office of Refugee  Resettlement (ORR). U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s U.S. Border  Patrol and Office of Field Operations (OFO), as well as U.S. Immigration  and Customs Enforcement (ICE), apprehend, process, temporarily detain,  and care for unaccompanied children who enter the United States with no  lawful immigration status. ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Removal  Operations is generally responsible for transferring unaccompanied  children, as appropriate, to ORR, or repatriating them to their countries of  nationality or last habitual residence. Under the William Wilberforce  Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Trafficking  Victims Protection Reauthorization Act), unaccompanied children in the  custody of any federal department or agency, including DHS, must be  transferred to ORR within 72 hours after determining that they are  unaccompanied children, except in exceptional circumstances.

ORR has cooperative agreements with residential care providers to  house and care for unaccompanied children while they are in ORR  custody. The aim is to provide housing and care in the least restrictive  environment commensurate with the children’s safety and emotional and  physical needs. In addition, these residential care providers, referred to  here as grantees, are also responsible for identifying and assessing the  suitability of potential sponsors—generally a parent or other relative in the  country—who can care for the child after they leave ORR custody. To  do this, grantees collect information from potential sponsors and run  various background checks. In cases in which there are questions about  the ability of the sponsor to meet the child’s needs and provide a safe  environment, and for children included in specified categories under the  Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, a home study is also  conducted. In certain circumstances ORR may also arrange for post- release services for the child.

Release to a sponsor does not grant unaccompanied children legal  immigration status. Children are scheduled for removal proceedings in  immigration courts to determine whether they will be ordered removed  from the United States or granted immigration relief. There are several  types of immigration relief that may be available to these children, for  example, asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile status.

A Joint Collaborative Process for the Referral and Placement of Unaccompanied Children Has Not Yet Been Implemented

In response to a recommendation in our 2015 report, DHS and HHS have  agreed to establish a joint collaborative process for the referral and  transfer of unaccompanied children from DHS to ORR shelters, but the  process has not yet been implemented. It will be important to ensure that,  once implemented, this process has clearly defined roles and  responsibilities for each agency, as we recommended.

In 2015, we reported that the interagency process to refer  unaccompanied children from DHS to ORR shelters was inefficient and  vulnerable to error. For example, as of April 2015, DHS and ORR relied  on e-mail communication and manual data entry to coordinate the  transfer of unaccompanied children to shelters because each agency  used its own data system and these systems did not automatically  communicate information with one another. These modes of  communication made the referral and placement process vulnerable to  error and possible delay in the transfer of these children from DHS to  ORR. Each DHS component also submitted shelter requests to ORR in a  different way. We reported that the roles and responsibilities of DHS  components were not consistent during the referral and placement  process, and DHS points of contact for ORR varied across Border Patrol  sectors and ICE and OFO areas of operation. Further, we noted that the  inefficiencies in the placement process for unaccompanied children had  been a long-standing challenge for DHS and ORR. Therefore, we  recommended that DHS and HHS jointly develop and implement a  documented interagency process with clearly defined roles and  responsibilities, as well as procedures to disseminate placement  decisions, for all agencies involved in referring and placing  unaccompanied children in ORR shelters.

The agencies agreed with this recommendation and in response, DHS  and HHS finalized a memorandum of agreement (MOA) in February  2016. The MOA provides a framework for coordinating each agency’s  responsibilities and establishing procedures, shared goals, and  interagency cooperation with respect to unaccompanied children. The  MOA states that DHS and HHS agree to establish a joint concept of  operations. According to the MOA, this joint concept is to include, among  other things, standard protocols for consistent interagency cooperation on  the care, processing, and transport of these children during both steady  state operations, as well as in the event the number of unaccompanied  children exceeds standard capabilities and existing resources. In  February 2018, HHS officials told us that the agency is reviewing a draft  of the DHS-HHS joint concept of operations. To fully address our  recommendation, DHS and HHS will need to ensure that this joint  concept, once finalized and implemented, includes a documented  interagency process with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, as well  as procedures to disseminate placement decisions, as we recommended.

ORR Reports Taking Steps to Improve Monitoring of Grantees’ Provision of Services

In response to a recommendation in our 2016 report, ORR reported  taking steps to improve monitoring of its grantees, including reviewing its  monitoring protocols and ensuring all grantees were monitored over a 2- year period. These steps should increase the timeliness, completeness,  and consistency of ORR’s monitoring; however, ORR needs to ensure  that its updated processes and protocols are fully implemented and in  use.

In 2016, we reported that ORR relies on grantees to provide care for  unaccompanied children, such as housing and educational, medical, and  therapeutic services, and to document in children’s case files the services  they provide. Grantees are required to provide these services and to  document that they did so. However, in our 2016 report, we found that  documents—such as legal presentation acknowledgment forms, records  of group counseling sessions, or clinical progress notes—were often  missing from the 27 randomly selected case files we reviewed. In  addition, we identified several cases in which forms that were present in  the files were not signed or dated. We found that although ORR used its  web-based data system to track some information about the services  children received, and grantees reported on the services they provided in  their annual reports, the documents contained in case files were the  primary source of information about the services provided to individual  children. We concluded that without including all of the documents in case  files, it was difficult for ORR to verify that required services were actually  provided in accordance with ORR policy and cooperative agreements.

In our 2016 report, we noted that ORR’s most comprehensive monitoring  of grantees occurred during on-site visits, but that onsite visits to facilities  were inconsistent. Prior to fiscal year 2014, project officers were  supposed to conduct on-site monitoring of facilities at least once a year.  However, we found in our review of agency data that many facilities had  not received a monitoring visit for several years. For example, ORR had  not visited 15 facilities for as many as 7 years. In 2014, ORR revised its  on-site monitoring program to ensure better coverage of grantees and  implemented a biennial on-site monitoring schedule. Nevertheless, ORR  did not meet its goal to visit all of its facilities by the end of fiscal year  2015, citing lack of resources. In our 2016 report, we concluded that  without consistently monitoring its grantees, ORR cannot know whether  they were complying with their agreements and that children were  receiving needed services. We recommended that the Secretary of HHS  direct ORR to review its monitoring program to ensure that onsite visits  are conducted in a timely manner, case files are systematically reviewed  as part of or separate from onsite visits, and that grantees properly  document the services they provide to children. HHS concurred with this  recommendation and stated that it had created a new monitoring initiative  workgroup to examine opportunities for further improvement.

Since our 2016 report, ORR has reported achieving more timely and  complete monitoring. In May 2017, ORR issued a summary of its fiscal  year 2016 monitoring showing that monitoring of all of its 88 grantees was  completed over the 2-year period of fiscal years 2015 and 2016. As a  result of this monitoring, the agency reported issuing 786 corrective  actions, almost all of which were closed within 90 days. The most  common corrective actions were related to incomplete case file  documentation and inconsistent implementation of some of ORR policies  and procedures, according to ORR. Subsequently, for the 2-year period  of fiscal years 2017 and 2018, ORR reported that as of April 2018, it had  completed monitoring of 65 grantees and planned to complete monitoring  of all of its remaining 39 grantees by the end of the fiscal year.

In addition, ORR has reported that it is taking steps to ensure its  monitoring processes and protocols are more systematic and uniform.  During 2016, ORR announced a new Monitoring Initiative with the goal of  establishing a comprehensive system of monitoring for all ORR-funded  programs; HHS reported that it had conducted three trainings for ORR  Project Officers and was in the process of adding two to three additional  Project Officer positions to the unaccompanied children program. In April  2018, HHS reported that ORR was in the process of reviewing and  revising its monitoring tools, and planned to have final versions of these  tools completed by the end of fiscal year 2018. Once ORR completes its  review of its monitoring tools and fully implements its revised protocols,  these steps, along with its more timely monitoring, should help ensure an  improved monitoring program.

ORR Relies on Grantees to Identify and Screen Sponsors for Unaccompanied Children

In 2016, we reported that ORR grantees that provide day-to-day care of  unaccompanied children are responsible for identifying and screening  sponsors prior to releasing children to them. During children’s initial intake  process, case managers ask them about potential sponsors with whom  they hope to reunite. Within 24 hours of identifying potential sponsors,  case managers are required to send them a Family Reunification  Application to complete. The application includes questions about the  sponsor and other people living in the sponsor’s home, including whether  anyone in the household has a contagious disease or criminal history.  Additionally, the application asks for information about who will care for  the child if the sponsor is required to leave the United States or becomes  unable to provide care.

Grantees also ask potential sponsors to provide documents to establish  their identity and relationship to the child, and they conduct background  checks. The types of background checks conducted depend on the  sponsor’s relationship to the child (see table 1). In certain circumstances  prescribed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act or  ORR policy, a home study must also be conducted before the child is  released to the sponsor. Additionally, other household members are  also subjected to background checks in certain situations, such as when  a documented risk to the safety of the unaccompanied child is identified,  the child is especially vulnerable, and/or the case is being referred for a  mandatory home study.

In our 2016 report, we found that between January 7, 2014, and April 17,  2015, nearly 52,000 children from El Salvador, Guatemala, or Honduras  were released to sponsors by ORR. Of these children, nearly 60 percent  were released to a parent. Fewer than 9 percent of these children were  released to a non-familial sponsor, such as a family friend, and less than  1 percent of these children were released to a sponsor with whom their  family had no previous connection (see table 2). Historically, most of  these unaccompanied children have been adolescents 14 to 17 years of  age, but about a quarter of the children from these three countries in 2014  and early 2015 were younger.

ORR Reports Creating New Data Collection Guidance on Post-Release Services

In response to a recommendation in our 2016 report, ORR reported  taking various steps to collect additional information on the services  provided to unaccompanied children after they are released from ORR  custody. We welcome this progress, but continue to believe that further  steps are needed to fully address our recommendation.

In 2016, we reported that limited information was available about post- release services provided to children and their sponsors. Post-release  services include such things as guidance to the sponsor to ensure the  safest environment possible for the child; assistance accessing legal,  medical, mental health, and educational services for the child; and  information on initiating steps to establish guardianship, if necessary. The  Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act requires ORR to  provide post-release services to children if a home study was conducted,  and authorizes ORR to provide these services to some additional  children.

Our 2016 report noted that ORR was in a position to compile the data it  collects on post-release services, and to share the data internally and  externally with other federal and state agencies to help them better  understand the circumstances these children face when they are released  to their sponsors. ORR was already collecting some information from its  post-release grantees on services provided to children after they left ORR  custody, and its newly instituted well-being calls and National Call Center  would allow it to collect additional information about these children.  However, at the time, ORR did not have processes in place to ensure that  all of these data were reliable, systematically collected, and compiled in  summary form to provide useful information about this population for its  use and for other government agencies, such as state child welfare  services. As a result, in our 2016 report, we recommended that the  Secretary of HHS direct ORR to develop a process to ensure all  information collected through its existing post-release efforts are reliable  and systematically collected, so that the information could be compiled in  summary form to provide useful information to other entities internally and  externally. HHS concurred and stated that ORR would implement an  approved data collection process that would provide more systematic and  standardized information on post-release services and that it would make  this information available to other entities internally and externally.

At the time of our 2016 study, a relatively small percentage of  unaccompanied children who had left ORR custody were receiving post- release services. Officials said ORR’s responsibility typically ended after it  transferred custody of children to their sponsors. We found that slightly  less than 10 percent of unaccompanied children received post-release  services in fiscal year 2014, including those for whom a home study was  conducted. However, the percentage of unaccompanied youth receiving  post-release services has increased in recent years. According to publicly  available ORR data, approximately 31 percent of unaccompanied youth  received such services in fiscal year 2015, 20 percent in fiscal year 2016,  and 32 percent in fiscal year 2017.

In addition, during 2015, ORR had taken steps to expand eligibility criteria  for post-release services. According to ORR officials, these changes  included making all children released to a non-relative or distant relative  eligible for such services. ORR also began operating a National Call  Center help-line in May 2015. Children who contacted ORR’s National  Call Center within 180 days of release and who reported experiencing (or  being at risk of experiencing) a placement disruption, also became  eligible for post-release services, according to ORR officials. Additionally,  our 2016 report noted that in August 2015, ORR had instituted a new  policy requiring grantee facility staff to place follow-up calls, referred to as  Safety and Well Being follow-up calls, to all children and their sponsors  30 days after the children are placed to determine whether they were still  living with their sponsors, enrolled in or attending school, and aware of  upcoming removal proceedings, and to ensure that they were safe.  ORR’s policy required grantees to attempt to contact the sponsor and  child at least three times.

In August 2017, ORR told us that the agency had created new guidance  on case reporting, records management, retention, and information- sharing requirements for post-release service provider, and that it had  collected data on Safety and Well Being follow-up calls that had been  made to children and their sponsors. For example, ORR told us that  during the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, its grantees reached 87  percent of unaccompanied children and 90 percent of sponsors by phone  within 30 to 37 days after the child’s release from ORR care. In the  second quarter of fiscal year 2016, these figures were 80 percent and 88  percent, respectively. ORR also said that the agency had developed a  plan for collecting and analyzing National Call Center data. However, as  of April 2018, ORR officials noted that case management functionality  had not yet been built into ORR’s web-based portal. Further, ORR  officials told us that the agency planned to create uniform data collection  reporting forms for grantees providing post-release services, but as of  April 2018, it had not developed these forms. ORR’s steps represent  progress towards systematically collecting information that can be used  internally and shared, as appropriate, with external agencies; however, to  ensure our recommendation is fully addressed, ORR will need to  complete its data collection and reporting efforts.

With respect to unaccompanied children’s immigration proceedings, we  reported in 2016 that several different outcomes are possible, and that  the outcomes for many children had not yet been determined. An  unaccompanied child who is in removal proceedings can apply for various  types of lawful immigration status with DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and  Immigration Services (USCIS), including asylum and Special Immigration  Juvenile status. Alternatively, an unaccompanied child who has not  sought, or has not been granted, certain immigration benefits within the  jurisdiction of USCIS, may still have various forms of relief available to  him or her during immigration proceedings. For example, an immigration  judge may order the child removed from the United States, close the case  administratively, terminate the case, allow the child to voluntary depart  the United States, or grant the child relief or protection from removal.   Moreover, a judge’s initial decision does not necessarily indicate the end  of the removal proceedings. For example, cases that are administratively  closed can be reopened, new charges may be filed in cases that are  terminated, and children may appeal a removal order. In addition, in  cases involving a child who receives a removal order in absentia, and a  motion to reopen the child’s case has been properly filed, the child is  granted a stay of removal pending a decision on the motion by the  immigration judge. In our 2016 report, we found that according to ICE  data on final removal orders from fiscal year 2010 through August 15,  2015, ICE removed 10,766 unaccompanied children, and about 63  percent of these children (6,751) were from El Salvador, Guatemala, or  Honduras.

Chairman Portman, Ranking Member Carper, and Members of the  Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would be happy to  answer any questions that you may have.

For further information regarding this testimony, please contact Kathryn  A. Larin at (202) 512-7215 or larink@gao.gov. Contact points for our  Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on  the last page of this statement.

Individuals who made key contributions to this testimony include Margie  K. Shields (Assistant Director), David Barish (Analyst-in-Charge), James  Bennett, Kathryn Bernet, Ramona Burton, Rebecca Gambler, Theresa  Lo, Jean McSween, James Rebbe, Almeta Spencer, Kate van Gelder,  and James Whitcomb.

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