Trump seeks deportation of migrant, unaccompanied minor children: report

The memo, obtained by Reuters, is titled, "Unaccompanied Alien Children Join Initiative Field Implementation," and lays out a four-phase initiative that began with a planning phase on January 27. The outlet stated that the memo did not provide a start date for enforcement operations.

The memo said that minors would be served with a notice to appear in immigration court or deported if deportation orders were pending against them. The memo also aims to ensure that children are not being exploited through human trafficking or other means.

ICE said in the memo that it had collected data on unaccompanied minors from a number of sources and had sorted them into three priority groups: "flight risk," "public safety," and "border security." The memo ordered agents to focus on those deemed flight risks, which includes those who have been ordered to be deported for missing court hearings or whose sponsors they were released to are not blood relatives.

The memo said that individual ICE field offices will determine "how to best locate, make contact, and serve immigration documents as appropriate for individual targets, when conducting enforcement actions" involving unaccompanied minors.

Mellissa Harper, head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, said during a Thursday staff meeting that the agency plans to use DNA testing to establish familial relationships, a source familiar with the matter said. She also said during the meeting that ICE was pursuing 247,000 tips related to fraud, trafficking, and smuggling of unaccompanied minors and was referring cases to the FBI for further investigation.

Trump has taken steps since entering office on January 20 to clamp down on the vetting of sponsors, including requiring the submission of fingerprints and background checks for sponsors and adult household members.

The Post Millennial has contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.