Report: 70 percent of new immigrants fail to report back to immigration officials

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last updated 8 January 2015

Immigrants who are caught crossing the border and entering the United States illegally are apprehended and told to report back to federal immigration authorities within 15 days. The Department of Homeland Security, however, has "privately acknowledged that about 70 percent of immigrant families failed to report as ordered."

The Obama administration spent much of the summer avoiding answering questions about the tens of thousands of immigrants who have been caught illegally crossing the Mexican border to the U.S. The Washington Post reports that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and others previously said they faced deportation, but during a confidential meeting in Washington, this was revealed not to be the case.

Documents show that only a few hundred families have been returned to their home countries and "limited U.S. detention facilities can house only about 1,200 family members." The 70 percent figure, according to the Post, suggests the government "released roughly 41,000 members of immigrant families who subsequently failed to appear at federal immigration offices."