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Authored by Ken Silva via HeadlineUSA.com,

DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari released a shocking report Tuesday on the status of nearly 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children who’ve entered the country since around 2019, finding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can’t account for an untold number of them.

According to the DHS IG, ICE has apprehended 448,820 unaccompanied migrant children since 2019.

Once ICE apprehends those children, the agency transfers them to the Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. The HHS ORR is then supposed to find shelter for those children as they go through immigration court proceedings.

However, more than 32,000 unaccompanied minors have failed to show up to their court dates—and ICE can’t account for all of them, according to the DHS IG. The DHS IG also found that ICE hasn’t served notices for more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors to appear for court—meaning that many of them could be unaccounted for, too.

IG Cuffari explained the importance of the court dates: He said they are often the only chance ICE officials have to check on the status of the unaccompanied minors, to make sure the shelter or sponsor they’re staying with is treating them well.

Bizarelly, Cuffari further said that ICE officials have little authority over unaccompanied children once their proceedings are underway, other than to help manage their immigration cases.

Cuffari recommended that the DHS implements guidelines to better track unaccompanied migrant children.

The DHS concurred with the recommendations, though the agency did take issue with some of the IG’s findings. Namely, the DHS said it hasn’t served notices for children to appear in court because many of those children haven’t been transferred to shelters. The DHS said it usually waits for children to be placed in a shelter or with a sponsor—that way, the court proceedings don’t have to restart in another jurisdiction once a child is moved, the agency explained.

The Donald Trump campaign released a statement in response to the IG report.

The DHS IG report follows shocking HHS whistleblower disclosures about what they described as “taxpayer-funded child slavery” being conducted with the government’s full knowledge and tacit consent. Those disclosures include shocking allegations that the HHS sent at least two unaccompanied migrant children to homes with ties to the El Salvadoran gang, La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is working with the HHS whistleblowers on his own investigation.