Department of Homeland Security 

Office of Inspector General 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien 


Parents of 


United States Citizen Children
 

OIG-09-15 January 2009 
 

Office of Inspector General 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528 

 January 12, 2009 

Preface 

The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, was established by 

the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296) by amendment to the Inspector 

General Act of 1978. This is one of a series of audit, inspection, and special reports 

prepared as part of our oversight responsibilities to promote economy, efficiency, and 

effectiveness within the department. 

This report addresses the number of instances over the past 10 years in which the illegal 

alien parent of a United States citizen child was removed from the country. It is based on 

interviews with employees and officials of relevant agencies and institutions and a review 

of applicable documents. 

The recommendations herein have been developed to the best knowledge available to our 

office, and have been discussed in draft with those responsible for implementation. It is 

our hope that this report will result in more effective, efficient, and economical 

operations. We express our appreciation to all of those who contributed to the 

preparation of this report. 

Richard L. Skinner 


Inspector General 

Table of Contents/Abbreviations 


Executive Summary.............................................................................................................1
 

Background..........................................................................................................................2
 

Results of Review ................................................................................................................4
 

Alien Removals Exceed Two Million Between FYs 1998 and 2007 ............................4 


More Than 100,000 Alien Parents of U.S. Citizen Children Were Removed Between 

FYs 1998 and 2007.....................................................................................................5 


Recommendations..........................................................................................................7 


Management Comments and OIG Analysis ..................................................................8 


Alien Parents Were Removed for Multiple Reasons .....................................................8 


ICE Does Not Collect Data on Length of Residence or Child Residence ..................10 


U.S. Citizen Children Were Not Held in Detention.....................................................11 


Appendices 

Appendix A: Purpose, Scope, and Methodology .......................................................13 


Appendix B: Management Comments to the Draft Report ......................................15 


Appendix C: Types of Crimes Committed by Alien Parents......................................17 


Appendix D: Major Contributors to This Report .......................................................18 


Appendix E: Report Distribution ...............................................................................19 


Abbreviations 

CBP Customs and Border Protection 


COBOL Common Business-Oriented Language 


DACS Deportable Alien Control System
 

DHS Department of Homeland Security 


DRO Office of Detention and Removal Operations 


ENFORCE Enforcement Case Tracking System
 

ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement 


NCIC National Crime Information Center 


OIG Office of Inspector General 


OIS Office of Immigration Statistics 

OIG
 

Department of Homeland Security 

Office of Inspector General 

Executive Summary 

The Committee on Appropriations for the House of 

Representatives directed the Department of Homeland Security 

Office of Inspector General, through H. Rep. 110-181, to report on 

detentions and removals involving U.S. citizen children and their 

parents among Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention 

center population over the past 10 years. The requested data 

included: (1) the total number of aliens removed from the United 

States; (2) the number of instances in which one or both parents of 

a U.S. citizen child were removed; (3) the reason for the parents’ 

removal; (4) the length of time the parents lived in the United 

States before removal; (5) whether the U.S. citizen children 

remained in the United States after the parents’ removal; and 

(6) the number of days a U.S. citizen child was held in detention. 

The United States conducted 2,199,138 alien removals between 

FYs 1998 and 2007. Existing data indicate that these removals 

involved 108,434 alien parents of U.S. citizen children. Alien 

parents were removed because of immigration violations, such as 

being present without authorization or committing criminal 

violations that affect immigration status. Data limitations decrease 

the reliability of these results, including the absence of a 

requirement for staff to collect data that establish which aliens are 

the parents of U.S. citizen children. 

We were unable to compile all the requested data because 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not collect the 

following specific information: (1) the number of instances in 

which both parents of a particular child were removed; (2) the 

length of time a parent lived in the United States before removal; 

and (3) whether the U.S. citizen children remained in the United 

States after the parents’ removal. Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement reported detaining no U.S. citizen children. 

We are recommending that Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

analyze and report on the feasibility of establishing procedures to 

document the number of removed alien parents and the age of 

aliens’ children to indicate whether they are minors or adults. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Background 

The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act established the basic structure 

of today’s U.S. immigration law, including the procedures for removing 

an alien. U.S. immigration law provided opportunities for discretionary 

relief from removal for aliens who were lawfully admitted as permanent 

residents but who faced removal because they had criminal convictions. 

For example, the law allowed aliens who had substantial ties to the United 

States, including spouses and children, to prove to an immigration judge 

that the negative aspects of their convictions were outweighed by their 

U.S. connections. In addition, removal could be suspended if the illegal 

alien could establish that: (1) he or she had been physically present in the 

United States continuously for 7 years before the application of the 

suspension; (2) he or she was of good moral character; and (3) the 

deportation would result in extreme hardship to the deportee or his or her 

spouse, parent, or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. 

In 1996, Congress adopted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty 

Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. 

The 1996 laws changed the guidelines for removing noncitizens with 

criminal convictions. The laws expanded the list of aggravated felonies, 

crimes for which one offense makes an alien removable, by adding many 

types of crimes and lowering the threshold for other crimes to qualify as 

aggravated felonies. In addition to murder and drug or firearms 

trafficking, aggravated felonies now include all crimes of violence or theft 

when the term of imprisonment is a year or more, as well as numerous 

other crimes.1

 If removed, aggravated felons are permanently barred from 

reentering the United States unless the Attorney General provides 

permission for reentry.2 

Legal changes in the 1990s also decreased other defenses against removal, 

even for aliens who are not aggravated felons. Previously, permanent 

resident aliens who had committed crimes but resided in the United States 

for 7 years could seek a hearing for discretionary relief from removal if 

their positive circumstances—such as family ties—outweighed the 

negative aspect of their crime. Currently, aliens who have committed 

certain crimes that are not aggravated felonies may be granted a waiver 

under limited circumstances, one of which is preventing “extreme” 

hardship to the alien’s U.S. citizen or permanent resident child, spouse, or 

1 8 USC § 1101(a)(43). 

2 8 USC § 1182(a)(9)(A). 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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parent.3

 Once removed, aliens who are not aggravated felons are barred 

from reentering the United States for five to twenty years.4 

Alien Removal Data Tracking Systems 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) obtained data from 

the Deportable Alien Control System (DACS). DACS is a 

25-year-old Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL)­

based system that ICE field offices use to track detainees. DACS 

automates many of the clerical control functions associated with 

the arrest, detention, and removal of illegal aliens. Information 

recorded in DACS for each detainee includes items such as alien 

registration number, name, country of origin, book-in date, and 

detention facility where the alien is housed. We used DACS to 

determine which removals involved alien parents of U.S. citizen 

children. 

Previously, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General 

(OIG), the Government Accountability Office, and our office have 

reported on several general limitations of DACS data.5

 Some of 

the concerns with the reliability and responsiveness of DACS data 

include the following: 

�

�

�

�

Data entry was untimely and needed better management 

controls. 

Data regarding aliens and final removal actions were not 

consistently recorded. 

DACS users did not receive sufficient training. 

Written standards to ensure the quality of data entry were 

unavailable. 

In addition, ICE officials said that information and reports are 

difficult to retrieve from DACS because of the limited number of 

programmers who can create COBOL queries. 

As of August 2008, ICE completed the transfer of DACS removal 

data into the Enforcement Case Tracking System (ENFORCE) 

3 8 USC § 1182(h).


4 8 USC § 1182(a)(9). 


5

 DHS OIG, Review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Detainee Tracking Process, OIG-07­

08, November 2006; DHS OIG, Detention and Removal of Illegal Aliens, OIG-06-33, April 2006; 


Department of Justice OIG, The Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Removal of Aliens Issued Final 


Orders, I-2003-04, February 2003; Government Accountability Office, Immigration Enforcement: Better 


Data and Controls Are Needed to Assure Consistency with Supreme Court Decision on Long-Term Alien 


Detention, GAO-04-434, May 2004. 


Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Alien Removal Module. DACS was still in use during our 

fieldwork, but it has been phased out since the module has been 

deployed nationwide. Established in 1996, ENFORCE supports 

web-based data entry and has other improvements as well. In 

addition to removal data, ENFORCE records alien apprehensions 

conducted by ICE and the Offices of the Border Patrol and Field 

Operations in Customs and Border Protection (CBP). 

Before ICE was created in 2003, the Immigration and 

Naturalization Service recorded alien data in ENFORCE and 

DACS. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security Office of 

Immigration Statistics (OIS) uses DACS data to determine formal 

removals, and uses ENFORCE and DACS data to compile various 

immigration enforcement reports. 

Results of Review 

Between FYs 1998 and 2007, 2,199,138 alien removals occurred in the 

United States, involving 108,434 alien parents of U.S. citizen children. 

Alien parents were removed because of immigration violations, such as 

being present without authorization or committing criminal violations that 

affect immigration status. ICE does not collect data on the following 

requested items: (1) the number of instances in which both parents were 

removed; (2) the length of time a parent lived in the United States before 

removal; or (3) whether the U.S. citizen children remained in the United 

States after the parents’ removal. ICE reported detaining no U.S. citizen 

children. 

Alien Removals Exceed Two Million Between FYs 1998 and 2007 

OIS uses DACS and ENFORCE data, including removals conducted by 

ICE, CBP, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to publish data 

on the number of aliens removed from the United States. OIS data in 

Figure 1 include aliens who were compelled to leave the United States 

based on an order of removal, including expedited removals. Voluntary 

departures without an order of removal, such as Mexican nationals 

returned to Mexico by the Border Patrol, are not included. The data are 

based on each removal, and aliens who were removed more than once are 

counted multiple times. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Figure 1. Alien Removals per Fiscal Year 

174,813 183,114 188,467 189,026 

165,168 

211,098 

240,665 246,431 

280,974 

319,382 

0 

50,000 

100,000 

150,000 

200,000 

250,000 

300,000 

350,000 

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 

Source: OIS, 2007 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. 

This data is current as of July 2008. Owing to the time lag in data entry 

for removals, OIS updates the data each year and does not consider the 

data complete until 3 years have elapsed. 

More Than 100,000 Alien Parents of U.S. Citizen Children Were 

Removed Between FYs 1998 and 2007 

Our analysis provides an approximate number of removals involving one 

alien parent of a U.S. citizen child. We were unable to establish whether 

both parents of a child were removed because the family relationships 

between different alien records in DACS are not clear. 

According to DACS data, 108,434 alien parents of U.S. citizen children 

were removed between FYs 1998 and 2007. More than a third of the 

parents—40,260 or 37.1%—were previous offenders who returned to the 

United States after their first removal and subsequently were removed on 

other occasions during the 10-year period. As a result, the total number of 

parent removals was 180,466. 

The number of parent removals has generally increased since FY 1998, 

with a peak in FY 2004. We counted individual parents’ removal year 

according to their earliest removal in our data set. Figure 2 shows that 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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fewer parents were removed for the first time in FYs 2006 and 2007 than 

in previous years, and many of these removals involved recidivists. 

Figure 2. Removals Involving Alien Parents of U.S. Citizen Children 

Fiscal 

Year 

Individual Parents 

Removed 

Total Removals of Alien 

Parents 

1998 13,081 14,001 

1999 13,410 15,914 

2000 11,848 15,851 

2001 11,138 16,807 

2002 9,922 16,528 

2003 11,586 20,864 

2004 11,074 21,965 

2005 9,981 20,939 

2006 8,460 19,360 

2007 7,934 18,237 

Total 108,434 180,466 

Source: OIG analysis of DACS data from August 7, 2008. 

Although the data set has several specific limitations, we used it in our 

analysis because it is the primary recorded source of this information. In 

addition to the general limitations of DACS data previously described, the 

following are specific limitations of ICE’s data regarding whether aliens 

are parents of U.S. citizen children: 

�	 

�	 

�	 

�	 

ICE does not require staff to record this data in DACS; data 

entry on the immigration status of aliens’ children is optional. 

The child status data is not updated when family structure 

changes owing to birth, death, marriage, divorce, or other 

reasons. 

The DACS data do not include some aliens who depart without 

an order of removal. For example, alien parents who are 

apprehended at the border shortly after crossing may agree to 

return voluntarily. These parents may have U.S. citizen 

children from previous time in the United States, but their child 

status information is not collected in DACS because their 

departure is a voluntary return. 

The child status data does not distinguish between adult 

children and minor children. The recorded data are based on 

the family relationship without reference to the child’s age. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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ICE officials also told us that an alien may not provide child status 

information, or may provide misleading or incomplete information, for 

fear that government authorities may apprehend family members. 

Even in the absence of complete and accurate documentation, ICE records 

show that a significant number of alien parent removals occurred. 

However, because ICE has made the collection of child status data 

voluntary, current data are not comprehensive. A more complete data set 

is paramount in evaluating proposed legislative and policy options to 

reduce or prevent parent removals in specific circumstances.6 The costs 

and benefits of these options could be more accurately assessed if data on 

the magnitude and characteristics of the alien parent population were 

available. Therefore, ICE should analyze and report on the feasibility of 

requiring staff to collect and document the number of removed aliens who 

are parents of U.S. citizen children. 

In addition, ICE should assess the feasibility of requiring staff to collect 

new data to establish the age of a child when a parent is removed. 

Because minors do not have legal and financial independence, they may 

be more affected by a parent’s removal than adult children. In addition, 

minor children are unable to request immigration benefits for their parents, 

unlike adult children who are 21 years old or older. New data on 

children’s ages would help establish the effect of alien parent removals on 

U.S. citizen children who are minors. 

Recommendations 

We recommend that the Assistant Secretary, ICE: 

Recommendation 1: Analyze and report on the feasibility of 

establishing procedures to ensure that data on the number of 

removed aliens who are parents of U.S. citizen children are 

collected and documented. 

Recommendation 2: Analyze and report on the feasibility of 

establishing procedures to document whether the U.S. citizen 

children of removed aliens are minors at the time of the removal of 

the alien parent(s). 

6

 H.R. 5035, 109th Cong. (2006); Human Rights Watch, Forced Apart: Families Separated and Immigrants 

Harmed by United States Deportation Policy, July 2007. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Management Comments and OIG Analysis 

We evaluated technical and written comments prepared by ICE 

regarding our draft report and, where appropriate, made changes to 

ensure the accuracy of information. ICE management agreed with 

the report findings and recommendations, and provided corrective 

actions for all recommendations. A copy of ICE’s written 

comments, in its entirety, is included as Appendix B. 

ICE’s Response to Recommendation 1: 

ICE agreed with our recommendation, and will initiate a study of 

this issue within 60 days of OIG’s final report. 

OIG Analysis: We consider ICE’s comments responsive to the 

recommendation, which is resolved and open pending our receipt 

of the results and analysis of ICE’s study of this issue. 

ICE’s Response to Recommendation 2: 

ICE agreed with our recommendation, and will initiate a study on 

this issue within 60 days of OIG’s final report. 

OIG Analysis: We consider ICE’s comments responsive to the 

recommendation, which is resolved and open pending our receipt 

of the results and analysis of ICE’s study of this issue. 

Alien Parents Were Removed for Multiple Reasons 

For aliens to be removable, they must have committed an immigration 

violation according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. The particular 

reason under the Act for which an alien is removed is recorded in DACS 

as the “final charge.” Most final charge types refer to an immigration 

issue directly, such as being present without authorization or attempting 

entry without proper documentation. Some final charge types relate to 

other issues that affect immigration status, such as criminal violations, 

national security grounds, or health reasons. The most common final 

charge categories for alien parent removals were “present without 

authorization” and “criminal violations.” 

According to ICE and OIS staff, the final charge recorded in DACS may 

not reflect the most serious charge for the removal. Aliens who are 

criminals may be removed under a different final charge for the 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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convenience of the government. For example, our data set includes aliens 

convicted of homicide who were removed under the final charge category 

“present without authorization” rather than “criminal violations.” In 

addition, the government may prove more than one charge; however, 

DACS allows only one data entry for final charge. 

We aggregated the final charge data using categories developed by OIS. 

The “other” category includes certain reentry violations, health conditions, 

and other reasons. Figure 3 depicts the final charge categories for the 

180,466 parent removals between FYs 1998 and 2007. 

Figure 3. Final Charge Category per Removal 

Final Charge Category Removals 

Present without authorization 68,179 

Criminal violations 63,510 

Previously removed, ineligible for reentry 25,604 

Attempted entry without proper documents or through fraud 

or misrepresentation 20,340 

Public charge 1,118 

Smuggling or aiding illegal entry 725 

Failed to maintain status 664 

Other 313 

National security and related grounds 13 

Total Parent Removals 180,466 

Source: OIG analysis of DACS data from August 7, 2008. 

To supplement the final charge data, we reviewed criminal history data in 

DACS. DACS can track up to five criminal convictions per alien using 

crime codes from the Department of Justice’s National Crime Information 

Center (NCIC). DACS includes NCIC crime codes for charges that have 

not yet resulted in a conviction; however, we restricted our data to 

convictions. Among alien parents of U.S. citizen children, 24,076, or 

22.2%, had no recorded convictions, while the remaining 77.8% had one 

or more convictions. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Figure 4. Convictions per Alien Parent 

5% 6%

10%

19%

38%

22%

No convictions 

One conviction 

Two convictions 

Three convictions 

Four convictions 

Five convictions 

Source: OIG analysis of DACS data from August 7, 2008. 

The DACS user manual includes more than 400 NCIC codes for the types 

of crimes aliens may have committed. We aggregated the data on criminal 

convictions using categories developed by OIS. More than half of the 

convictions recorded in DACS were related to one of three offenses: 

dangerous drugs—57,803 or 34.0%, immigration—24,344 or 14.3%, or 

assault—12,555 or 7.4%. See Appendix C for a complete list. 

DACS also contains data on whether aliens committed aggravated felonies. 

Aggravated felonies are crimes of such seriousness that a single offense 

renders an alien removable under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The 

act defines more than 20 crimes as aggravated felonies. The majority of 

alien parents removed, 61,590 or 56.8%, were aggravated felons. 

ICE Does Not Collect Data on Length of Residence or Child 

Residence 

ICE does not collect data on the full length of time an alien is present in 

the United States before removal. DACS contains data on an alien’s most 

recent date of entry into the United States; however, no DACS field shows 

the alien’s date of first entry. Because many aliens leave and reenter the 

country, the data on the most recent date of entry was unreliable for 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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calculating the full length of time that alien parents lived in the United 

States before removal. In addition, DACS data do not indicate where 

aliens’ children reside or whether they depart the United States with a 

removed parent. 

U.S. Citizen Children Were Not Held in Detention 

ICE does not have records of holding U.S. citizen children in detention. 

ICE officials said that there were no instances of detaining U.S. citizen 

children and that ICE would not knowingly hold a U.S. citizen child in 

detention. 

Before a person may be placed in immigration detention, staff from CBP’s 

Office of Border Patrol, the Office of Field Operations, or ICE agents 

from the Office of Investigations must determine that the person is a 

removable alien. This determination may be based on interviews and 

other evidence. Known U.S. citizens are not placed in immigration 

detention. ICE officials said that if CBP or ICE identifies the child as a 

U.S. citizen, the child is released to the parent’s designated custodian or to 

Child Protective Services. In the case of Kebin Reyes, a U.S. citizen child 

who accompanied his alien father during an immigration apprehension, 

ICE reported in its February 13, 2008, testimony to Congress that it 

released the child to the father’s designated custodian as soon as the 

custodian was identified and located. 

In cases involving alien children, the apprehending office contacts a 

juvenile coordinator in the Juvenile and Family Residential Management 

Unit within ICE’s Office of Detention and Removal Operations (DRO). 

This unit operates two housing facilities for alien family groups, and it 

also serves as a conduit to place unaccompanied alien children in the 

custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of 

Health and Human Services. The juvenile coordinator reviews the 

determination that the child is a removable alien before arranging 

detention for the child. If the child’s alien status is in question, 

headquarters officials in the Juvenile and Family Residential Management 

Unit assist in the determination. If the alien status of a child under 5 years 

of age is unclear, the unit treats the child as a U.S. citizen based on the 

Immigration and Nationality Act rules for birth citizenship, and does not 

detain the child.7 

7 8 USC § 1401(f). 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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ICE recently supplemented the policies that protect against the detention 

of U.S. citizens. On May 23, 2008, DRO issued a memorandum requiring 

the full investigation of all affirmative claims to U.S. citizenship before a 

person is taken into custody. If the person is already in ICE custody, the 

investigation must take place before final disposition of the case. This 

memorandum has been integrated into the national standard operating 

procedures for all DRO field offices. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Appendix A 

Purpose, Scope, and Methodology 

The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations 

directed that we review ICE’s detention center population over the 

past 10 years for data related to the removal of the alien parents of 

U.S. citizen children.8

 The requested data included: (1) the total 

number of U.S. removals; (2) the number of instances in which one 

or both parents of a U.S. citizen child was removed; (3) the reason 

for the parents’ removal; (4) the length of time the parents lived in 

the United States before removal; (5) whether the U.S. citizen 

children remained in the United States after the parents’ removal; 

and (6) the number of days a U.S. citizen child was held in 

detention. 

We interviewed officials from OIS and ICE headquarters in 

Washington, DC, to become familiar with the process used to 

collect and report information on detentions and removals. In 

addition, we reviewed reports from OIS; ICE documentation, 

including the DACS user manual and detention standards; 

immigration laws and regulations; reports from the Government 

Accountability Office, the Department of Justice Office of 

Inspector General, and our office on the reliability of detention and 

removal data; and other related reports and articles. 

We obtained data on the number of illegal aliens removed between 

FYs 1998 and 2007 from the OIS 2007 Yearbook of Immigration 

Statistics. Because we were asked to report on the detained 

population, we focused on formal removals recorded in DACS, 

which does not include data on most voluntary departures and 

returns. To compile the data on illegal parents removed, we asked 

ICE to provide more specific data from DACS on illegal aliens 

removed between FYs 1998 and 2007. We requested that ICE 

limit the list to aliens with an entry in the CHILD-STAT data field, 

which indicates whether the illegal alien is the parent of a U.S. 

citizen child. We also requested data fields related to the illegal 

aliens’ family status, reason for removal, and length of time in the 

United States before removal. 

Using computer-assisted auditing techniques, we eliminated 

duplicate and inapplicable records, reducing 474,783 records to 

180,466. The resulting figure provided the number of removals 

involving illegal alien parents of U.S. citizen children. Using alien 

registration numbers, we grouped cases where one illegal parent 

8

 H. Rep. 110-181, at 26 (2007). 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Appendix A 

Purpose, Scope, and Methodology 

had been removed multiple times to find the number of individual 

illegal parents removed. For these individual parents, we counted 

the removal year based on their earliest removal in our 10-year 

data set. When reviewing criminal history, we excluded crimes 

that had not resulted in a conviction. We aggregated the data on 

criminal convictions and final charge for removal using categories 

developed by OIS. 

We conducted our fieldwork from April to August 2008. This 

review was conducted under the authority of the Inspector General 

Act of 1978, as amended, and according to the Quality Standards 

for Inspections, issued by the President’s Council on Integrity and 

Efficiency. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Appendix B 

Management Comments to the Draft Report 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 


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Appendix B 

Management Comments to the Draft Report 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 


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Appendix C 

Types of Crimes Committed by Alien Parents 

Category of Criminal Conviction Total 

Dangerous Drugs 57,803 

Immigration 24,344 

Traffic Offenses 12,555 

Assault 12,490 

Family Offenses 8,603 

Burglary 8,179 

Larceny 6,645 

Weapon Offenses 5,863 

Stolen Vehicle 4,159 

Robbery 3,571 

Obstructing Judiciary, Congress, Legislature 3,350 

Sexual Assault 3,185 

Sex Offenses (not involving assault or commercialized sex) 3,051 

Stolen Property 2,710 

Fraudulent Activities 2,509 

Forgery 2,114 

Obstructing the Police 1,739 

Public Peace 1,133 

Homicide 994 

Health Safety 776 

Invasion of Privacy 700 

Damage to Property 561 

Kidnapping 547 

Flight, Escape 465 

Commercialized Sexual Offenses 295 

Crimes Against Person 241 

Public Order Crimes 234 

Property Crimes 209 

Arson 185 

Extortion 171 

Liquor 99 

Embezzlement 88 

Smuggling 75 

Bribery 66 

Juvenile Offenders 64 

Tax Revenue 52 

Gambling 29 

Morals Crimes 28 

Threats 25 

Obscenity 24 

Sovereignty 14 

Conservation 13 

Abortion 6 

Military 5 

Civil Rights 3 

Total Alien Parent Convictions Recorded in DACS 169,972 

Source: OIG analysis of DACS data from August 7, 2008. 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Appendix D 

Major Contributors to This Report 

Deborah Outten-Mills, Chief Inspector, Department of Homeland 

Security, Office of Inspections 

M. Faizul Islam, Senior Inspector, Department of Homeland 

Security, Office of Inspections 

Wynne Kelch, Senior Inspector, Department of Homeland 

Security, Office of Inspections 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 

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Appendix E 

Report Distribution 

Department of Homeland Security 

Secretary 

Deputy Secretary 

Chief of Staff 

Deputy Chief of Staff 

General Counsel 

Executive Secretary 

Director, GAO/OIG Liaison Office 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Policy 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Public Affairs 

Assistant Secretary for Office of Legislative Affairs 

Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

Audit Liaison, Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

Audit Liaison, Office of Policy 

Office of Management and Budget 

Chief, Homeland Security Branch 

DHS OIG Budget Examiner 

Congress 

Congressional Oversight and Appropriations Committees, as 

appropriate 

Removals Involving Illegal Alien Parents of United States Citizen Children 


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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND COPIES 

To obtain additional copies of this report, please call the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at (202) 254-4199, 

fax your request to (202) 254-4305, or visit the OIG web site at www.dhs.gov/oig. 

OIG HOTLINE 

To report alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement, or any other kind of criminal or noncriminal 

misconduct relative to department programs or operations: 

• Call our Hotline at 1-800-323-8603; 

• Fax the complaint directly to us at (202) 254-4292; 

• Email us at DHSOIGHOTLINE@dhs.gov; or 

• Write to us at: 

DHS Office of Inspector General/MAIL STOP 2600, 

Attention: Office of Investigations - Hotline, 

245 Murray Drive, SW, Building 410, 

Washington, DC 20528. 

The OIG seeks to protect the identity of each writer and caller.