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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is under heavy fire for saying migrant children reportedly being trafficked are “outside the responsibility” of his agency.

Mayorkas responded to questions about the administration losing track of thousands of minors coming across the U.S. border illegally in an interview on “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan.

According to the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, between 2019 and 2023, over 448,000 unaccompanied children were transferred by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), But the audit revealed that over 30,000 were not monitored after being released from the agency.

“ICE has no assurance UCs (unaccompanied migrant children) are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s report said at the time.

“ICE was also unable to account for more than 32,000 unaccompanied kids who failed to appear in court from 2019 to 2023 according to the report we read. The incoming border czar, Tom Homan, says these children are being exploited and trafficked. Is that true?” Brennan asked Mayorkas in Sunday’s interview.

“Margaret, we certainly have received reports of children being trafficked, even those as to whom we know where they are,” Mayorkas said before dropping his eyebrow-raising statement.

“That is outside the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. What we do is we turn children over within 72 hours, as the law requires, to the Department of Health and Human Services, and then HHS places those children,” he claimed.

“Of course, we investigate cases of trafficking, but there are children who are reunited with a parent here in the United States or a legal guardian, and they move and sometimes the government loses track,” he continued.

“Individuals do not comply with the reporting obligations or otherwise, I think it is inaccurate to say that all of them are trafficked or victimized,” Mayorkas added, pointing the finger at a “broken” immigration system and not the failure of one administration.

“This has been a problem that has been decades long. This is not a new problem,” Mayorkas responded as Brennan pressed on whether the incoming Trump administration can change anything. “I wish them tremendous success. I will support them in their efforts to end the scourge of human exploitation and human trafficking.”

The DHS chief was raked over the coals for his comments.

Incoming ‘border czar’ Tom Homan called him out for spewing “nothing but lies.”

“If his lips are moving, he’s lying,” Homan said on “Fox & Friends” Monday.

Frieda Powers
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