About 70 percent of illegal immigrant families caught crossing the border earlier this year failed to meet with federal immigration agents after being released into the U.S., the Homeland Security Department acknowledged privately, reported the Associated Press.
"An official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed that [tens of thousands] of immigrant families the Obama administration had released into the U.S. never showed up weeks later for follow up appointments," AP reported.
More than 66,000 immigrants have been detained at the border since the start of October, but since 60,000 of those are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, they cannot be immediately repatriated as done with Mexicans, therefore, "the government has been releasing them into the U.S. and telling them to report within 15 days to the nearest ICE office," said the Associated Press.
The disclosure was revealed after AP obtained an audio recording of ICE officials speaking during a confidential meeting at its Washington headquarters with immigration advocates.
In the recording, the government didn't say exactly how many families had been released into the U.S. since October, but the Associated Press was able to roughly estimate the number of members of immigrant families released.
"Since only a few hundred families have already been returned to their home countries and limited U.S. detention facilities can house only about 1,200 family members, the 70 percent figure suggests the government released roughly 41,000 members of immigrant families who subsequently failed to appear at federal immigration offices."
The Associated Press added that the Homeland Security Department "did not dispute the authenticity of this recording."
In a statement emailed to the Associated Press Thursday afternoon, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said that the no-show rate "represents an approximate snapshot of individuals encountered beginning in May" who failed to report to ICE, adding that it's possible that some are still reporting to immigration court hearings.
President Obama previously vowed to use his power of executive order to give amnesty to a sizable number of illegal immigrants, but with a possible constitutional crisis linked to the action along with Congressional resistance to the move - and perhaps a bit of fear that this would hinder favorable election outcomes for Democrats in November - Obama hasn't yet moved forward with his plan.
White House aides said Obama is set to announce his new plans before summer is over.
