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Anti-ICE protests and the rise of sanctuary jurisdictions are straining federal immigration enforcement efforts, forcing the agency to divert personnel and hindering its ability to carry out arrests and deportations, acting Director Todd Lyons told The Washington Times.
Lyons attributed much of the disruption to political rhetoric that, he said, has fueled hostility toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Most of the bombastic and inflammatory rhetoric has come from Democrats and the left-leaning media.
He also sought to dispel several misconceptions about the agency, including claims that it arrests U.S. citizens or targets children at schools. Lyons said ICE agents seen near schools are often searching for unaccompanied migrant children released into the U.S. by the Biden administration who have since gone missing.
The children, formally designated as unaccompanied alien children (UACs), were a major challenge during the surge in border crossings under President Biden. Roughly half a million were encountered during his tenure, most released to sponsors.
Lyons said the scale of arrivals led to limited vetting, resulting in unsafe conditions for many of those children.
According to an inspector general report, the federal government lost track of about 300,000 migrant children and mishandled some 65,000 reports of potential issues. Lyons said the new administration is working to locate as many of the children as possible and reunite them with family members.
As of July, approximately 13,000 had been found, he told the Times.
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