From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Unaccompanied Alien Children in DHS Custody

Description: Audio Interview by GAO staff with Rebecca Gambler,
Director, Homeland Security and Justice

Related GAO Work: GAO-15-521: Unaccompanied Alien Children: Actions
Needed to Ensure Children Receive Required Care in DHS Custody 

Released: July 2015


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[ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and
information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's July
2015. Over the last five years, the Department of Homeland Security
apprehended more than 200,000 unaccompanied alien children. On the
journey to the United States, many of these children traveled thousands
of miles from their home countries under dangerous conditions. A team
led by Rebecca Gambler, a director in GAO's Homeland Security and
Justice Team, recently reviewed how DHS cares for these children. GAO's
Jacques Arsenault sat down with Rebecca to talk about what they found.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] There had been a lot of talk in the news not too
long ago about unaccompanied children crossing the border. Can you talk
about where these children are coming from, and how they're coming into
DHS custody?

[ Rebecca Gambler: ] The children can come from any country, but over
the past several years, they've predominantly come from four countries.
Those four countries are Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
The children can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to reach the
United States and they can encounter dangerous conditions on that
journey, including being vulnerable to trafficking or other types of
crime and violence. When the children arrive at the United States, they
can be encountered or apprehended by DHS agents and officers either at a
port of entry, or between a port of entry.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] So what are DHS's responsibilities here and
what's DHS supposed to be doing in terms of providing care for these
children?

[ Rebecca Gambler: ] When a child is encountered or apprehended, DHS
officers or agents are supposed to screen or interview the child. DHS
also has responsibilities for caring for the children while they're
within the department's custody. And that includes providing, for
example, access to drinking water and food and providing sanitary
conditions. For some children, DHS also has responsibility to work with
the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer those children
to the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services
generally within 72 hours.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] So let me ask you then, what did you find about
how well DHS is performing these responsibilities?

[ Rebecca Gambler: ] As it relates to care, we found that DHS does have
policies and processes for caring for unaccompanied alien children and
its care has generally been consistent with those policies and
processes. However, we also found that the department does not collect
complete and reliable data on its provision of care to unaccompanied
alien children. It also does not maintain complete and reliable data on
the length of time that children are within DHS's custody. So, for
example, for two components within the Department of Homeland Security,
we found that they did not have complete data on the dates and times of
when children entered into and left their custody. And so as a result of
that, those components could not accurately determine how long the
children had been in their custody and whether or not that length of
time fell within the 72 hour time limit established by law.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] So then, what recommendations is GAO making to
DHS in this report?

[ Rebecca Gambler: ] We made 12 recommendations to the department in
this report, and those recommendations go to DHS strengthening its
screening of unaccompanied alien children, better documenting the care
and custody it provides to unaccompanied alien children, and
strengthening its processes for transferring children from the
Department of Homeland Security's care to the care of the Department of
Health and Human Services.

[ Jacques Arsenault: ] Finally, what would you say is the bottom line of
this report?

[ Rebecca Gambler: ] There are thousands of children who have crossed
the border into the United States and have been in the care of the
Department of Homeland Security. While DHS has policies and processes
for providing care for these children, we've found that in a number of
areas, the department could do a better job of documenting the care it
provides to those children as well as ensuring that the children are
safely transferred to the care of the Department of Health and Human
Services for those children that should be transferred.

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[ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the
next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional
watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.