'Hundreds' of illegal immigrant children are being handed to relatives who are in the US illegally too

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services makes no effort to determine the immigration status of adult relatives when they show up to claim unaccompanied minor children who entered the U.S. illegally, a spokesman at the agency confirmed on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of the under-18s – 'Unaccompanied Alien Children' (UACs) in government-speak – have poured across the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, creating what President Barack Obama has termed an 'urgent humanitarian situation.' HHS, which houses them until family members can be found, has begun releasing illegal immigrant children 'by the hundreds' into the custody of adults who are illegal immigrants themselves, an HHS official familiar with the situation on America's southern border told MailOnline late on Tuesday. An official spokesman for HHS's Administration for Children and Families confirmed on Wednesday that the agency has no system in place to verify whether the adults are here legally. Kenneth Wolfe told MailOnline on Wednesday that 'around 90 percent of the minors in the UAC program are released to verified sponsors (mostly family members) in the U.S.' Asked if 'verified' means that the adults' immigration status has been checked, he responded, 'No.' He also answered 'no' when asked if there is 'an effort made to ascertain the immigration status of the adults who claim the kids.' Most of the children are turning themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, who transport them to a facility where they are processed and given 'notices to appear' before an immigration judge between 10 and 90 days later. HHS takes over after that, drawing on a $1 billion budget to house, feed and otherwise care for the children until a suitable adult family member can be located to claim them. The first HHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment to the press, said his agency first tries to find a legal U.S. resident related to each child to take custody. But barring that outcome, he cautioned, 'I know they're more concerned with clearing the caseload than with the immigration status of the adult sponsors.' As many as 90,000 are expected to go through the system during the government's fiscal year that ends on September 30...more