HOUSTON — The Houston Police Department has confirmed they’re currently investigating reports of missing or unaccompanied migrant youth brought to Houston by federal authorities.
HPD issued the following statement regarding the reports:
“The Houston Police Department is currently conducting investigations into reports of missing, unaccompanied juveniles resettled in Houston by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) with sponsors.
"As is customary when an individual is reported missing in Houston, the HPD Missing Persons Unit conducts a thorough investigation. Any inquiries into how the juveniles arrived or were placed in Houston should be directed to ORR.”
“The fact that ORR or Human Health Services are missing anybody who’s a minor is obviously a cause for concern,” said Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of immigrant rights organization FIEL.
By U.S. law, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has custody and must provide care for each unaccompanied child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States under 18 years old.
“It’s really important that we get to the bottom of it, that we at least identify if these folks did leave with a relative or if they really are in danger because we also cannot deny the fact that some people are preying on these folks, on these young individuals in order to traffic them in order to sell them into prostitution or gangs or organized crime,” Espinosa said.
Eddy Rodriguez is a former United States deportation officer and is now with LULAC, a Hispanic civil rights organization. Rodriguez says the journey many kids are facing to get here is often traumatizing.
“Sometimes they have no food, no water they’re in conditions that are either cold or hot and they’re in terrains that have literally coyotes, as far as animals, and dangerous things that are going on all the time,” Rodriguez said.
He says someone dropped the ball in keeping these kids safe.
“Customs and Border Patrol ... they’re the ones responsible initially to have that, however when they transfer them over to the other department or agency, in this case HHS, then they take over," Rodriguez said. "So nobody’s really in the situation to pass on who watches them, who sponsors them, who's going to monitor them, who’s going to go back and do the bed checks. There is no federal CPS."
HHS released the following statement to KHOU:
"HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) takes our responsibility to care for and protect unaccompanied children in our custody seriously, along with ensuring safe placement of vetted sponsors. Anytime we become aware of information that could impact the safety of children, we quickly conduct a full review and put additional safeguards in place if needed.
"ORR and the Houston Police Department both reported that some minors and some 18-year-olds who we placed with a vetted sponsor earlier are no longer residing with those sponsors, we quickly contacted sponsors and family members to inquire about their safety. Most former UC have been confirmed as safe, and we continue to coordinate with local law enforcement to ensure all minors are safe."