Obama speech to secure border without ‘tearing’ kids from parents omits somber DHS report on missing migrants

Former President Barack Obama advocated for securing the border “without tearing kids away from their parents” during his speech that concluded the second night of the Democratic National Convention.

But Trump War Room, the account for former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, flagged how Obama failed to mention a report released by the Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General earlier Tuesday. “The DHS Inspector General revealed today that 291,000 children who crossed the border illegally under Border Czar Kamala are unaccounted for,” the Trump campaign wrote. 

As of May 2024, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not served notices to appear on more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children, “who therefore do not yet have an immigration court date,” according to the DHS watchdog report. An audit revealed ICE transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the border illegally from fiscal years 2019 to 2023. 

However, ICE was not able to account for the location of all unaccompanied migrant children who were released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody during that time frame and who did not appear as scheduled in immigration court, according to the DHS inspector general’s report. 

ICE reported more than 32,000 unaccompanied minor children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, the report adds. 

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Obama closed the second night of the DNC by slamming Trump over a border bill negotiated in a bipartisan manner in the Senate earlier this year that failed to advance to the Republican-controlled House. GOP House leadership had slammed the upper chamber, under Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for failing to take up a different measure that outlined the lower chamber Republicans’ border priorities. 

“He wants the middle class to pay the price for another huge tax cut that would mostly help him and his rich friends,” Obama said of Trump. “He killed a bipartisan immigration deal written in part by one of the most conservative Republicans in Congress that would have helped secure our southern border because he thought trying to actually solve the problem would hurt his campaign.” 

“A Harris-Walz administration can help us move past some of the tired old debates that keep stifling progress,” Obama continued. “They understand that we can secure our borders without tearing kids away from their parents. Just like we can keep our streets safe while also building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and eliminating bias that will make it better for everybody.” 

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“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse. America is ready for a new chapter,” he added. 

Trump, meanwhile, surrounded by law enforcement, campaigned in Michigan on Tuesday vowing to “Make America Safe Again.” He asked why Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Harris, who served the past three years as the Biden administration’s border “czar,” needed legislation to seal the southern border, arguing that she could take action now without waiting until Election Day. 

“It’s all nonsense that Donald Trump stopped a bill. I was opposed to it. So was everyone else. It was the weakest bill under that bill. Millions of people would have been allowed to come in,” Trump said in Howell, Michigan, during his battleground campaign swing meant to counter DNC programming. “This is a weak bill. But you didn’t need a bill. I didn’t have a bill. I said, ‘close the border.’ And that’s how we got to those numbers. The lowest ever recorded. I said, ‘close the border.’ I didn’t have a bill. I didn’t need a bill. She doesn’t need a bill. Biden doesn’t know where he is. So where is he? Whatever happened to him?” 

Trump also criticized Harris, who began her political career as a prosecutor in San Francisco, for her “pro-crime, anti-police record.” 

“We want to have borders. We want to have strong police protection. We want a military that can protect us. We want great schools, school choice ideally. We want to have, we want to have a good life. We want to be safe. But let’s review, Kamala’s pro-crime, anti-police record. She repeatedly endorsed defunding the police,” Trump said of Harris. “She sponsored a bill to strip police officers of legal protection, leaving you at the mercy of the lawless Marxist prosecutors who want to lock up police officers for sport.” 

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