Interviewing and screening. After Border Patrol, OFO, or ICE apprehends UAC, a CBP or ICE official interviews each child and collects personal information such as the child’s name, country of nationality, and age. DHS officials evaluate each child to determine if he or she meets certain criteria signifying that additional steps may have to be taken to ensure the child is safe from harm—a process known as screening. According to CBP policy, Border Patrol agents and OFO officers are to use CBP Form 93 and Form I-213, Record of Deportable/Inadmissible Alien, among other forms, to document that they collected personal information about each UAC and that each child is screened as required. In addition, TVPRA requires that, except in exceptional circumstances, UAC are transferred to the care and custody of HHS within 72 hours of determining a child is a UAC. However, TVPRA also provides special rules for UAC from Canada and Mexico who are apprehended at a land border or POE. On a case-by-case basis for UAC from Canada and Mexico, DHS may allow the child to withdraw his or her application for admission and return to his or her country of nationality or last habitual residence—referred to as repatriation for purposes of this report—without further removal proceedings if the officers screen the UAC within 48 hours of being apprehended and determine that 1. the UAC is not a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons,2. there is no credible evidence that the UAC is at risk of being trafficked 3. the UAC does not have a fear of returning to his or her country owing to a credible fear of persecution, and 4. the UAC is able to make an independent decision to withdraw the application for admission to the United States and voluntarily return to his or her country of nationality or last habitual residence. For Mexican and Canadian UAC who do not meet all four of these screening criteria, TVPRA requires DHS to follow the same process established for UAC from other countries and transfer them to HHS within 72 hours of determining they are UAC, absent exceptional circumstances. Figure 1 shows CBP’s screening process for UAC. Care and custody. While UAC are in DHS custody, DHS is required to meet certain minimum requirements for care and custody, as stipulated by TVPRA, the Flores Agreement, and DHS regulations. DHS must meet the following requirements for care and custody, at a minimum: maintain custody of UAC in the least restrictive setting appropriate to the children’s age and special needs, provided that such setting is consistent with the need to protect the juveniles’ well-being and that of others, as well as with any other laws, regulations, or legal requirements; provide safe and sanitary facilities for UAC, as well as adequate temperature control and ventilation; provide UAC with access to drinking water and food as appropriate, emergency medical care, and toilets and sinks; generally separate UAC from unrelated adults and adequately provide specialized training for care and custody of UAC to DHS personnel who have substantive contact with UAC; and transfer UAC to HHS within 72 hours of apprehension, except in exceptional circumstances. Transfer of UAC. When ORR receives notice that DHS plans to transfer custody of UAC, ORR searches its database of shelters throughout the United States to locate one with space for a child before DHS transfers custody of UAC. When ORR confirms that space at a shelter has been reserved for an unaccompanied alien child, the office is to coordinate with Border Patrol, OFO, and ERO to transport the child to the assigned shelter. ERO provides long-distance travel for UAC within the United States via commercial airlines, charter aircraft, or bus. In some areas, CBP transports UAC to shelters that are within the local commuting area. For UAC repatriated to Mexico or Canada, CBP is generally responsible for transporting UAC to POEs, where UAC custody is transferred to Mexican or Canadian officials. DHS apprehended more than 5 million adult and juvenile aliens during fiscal years 2009 through 2014, of which approximately 201,700 (4 percent) were UAC. Table 1 shows the number of UAC apprehensions by DHS component during fiscal years 2009 through 2014. Over 90 percent of DHS’s apprehensions of UAC during fiscal years 2009 through 2014 were made by Border Patrol agents along the southwest border of the United States with Mexico. Of the 186,233 UAC whom Border Patrol apprehended, over 75 percent were apprehended in two Border Patrol sectors—about 52 percent in Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and about 25 percent in Tucson, Arizona. OFO apprehended 10,447 UAC during fiscal years 2012 through 2014.locations of UAC apprehensions by CBP during fiscal years 2009 through 2014. In March 2009, CBP issued a memorandum containing policies and procedures that Border Patrol agents and OFO officers are required to follow when screening UAC regardless of nationality. Consistent with TVPRA requirements, the memorandum states that Border Patrol and OFO are to transfer all UAC from countries other than Canada or Mexico to HHS shelters. In addition, the memorandum establishes separate procedures to screen UAC from Canada and Mexico to determine whether they should be transferred to an HHS shelter or allowed to return to these two countries. Specifically, agents and officers are required to assess the four criteria set forth in TVPRA for each unaccompanied Canadian or Mexican child when determining whether to allow that child to voluntarily return to these countries (that is, to be repatriated). Further, CBP’s March 2009 memorandum requires that Border Patrol agents and OFO officers use CBP’s Form 93 to document that they conducted the required screening for all UAC against criteria set forth in TVPRA. For example, the Form 93 directs interviewing agents and officers to ask questions to determine whether the children have a fear of returning to their country of nationality or last habitual residence and if the UAC may be victims of trafficking. Form 93 also provides agents and officers with indicators of potential human trafficking. In addition, agents and officers are to use the Form I-213 to document, among other things, key results of the screening process, such as any claims of fear expressed by the UAC. According to our observations and interviews with Border Patrol agents and OFO officers at 13 of the 15 CBP facilities and POEs we visited, agents and officers generally interview UAC and complete these forms at computer terminals in open areas of the facilities. Although CBP agents and officers are to complete a Form 93 for all UAC, the children’s responses are only statutorily required for the purpose of determining whether to permit Canadian and Mexican UAC to voluntarily return, as TVPRA requires DHS to transfer all non-Canadian and non-Mexican UAC to an HHS shelter. Table 2 describes the purpose of these forms and their roles in the screening process. On the basis of the information Border Patrol agents and OFO officers gather during the interviews and, in particular, on the basis of the children’s responses to questions on the Form 93, agents and officers are to determine whether to allow UAC from Canada and Mexico to return to their countries of origin. Table 3 shows the number of Canadian and Mexican UAC who were apprehended by CBP from fiscal years 2012 through 2014 and repatriated or transferred to HHS. Our analysis of UAC apprehension data for fiscal years 2009 through 2014 shows that CBP transferred the majority of non-Canadian and non- Mexican UAC to HHS, as required by TVPRA and CBP’s March 2009 memorandum. Specifically, CBP’s data indicate that Border Patrol transferred 99 percent of such UAC whom agents apprehended from fiscal years 2009 through 2014, and OFO transferred about 93 percent of such UAC apprehended at land POEs from fiscal years 2012 through Further, officials at 13 of the CBP facilities and land POEs we 2014.visited stated that non-Mexican UAC are always transferred to HHS, indicating that the officials were aware of the policy. In addition, for all 5 non-Mexican UAC we observed being interviewed by Border Patrol agents during our visits, we noted that agents determined that these UAC were to be transferred to HHS, as required. Although CBP transferred the majority of non-Canadian and non-Mexican UAC apprehended at land borders and land POEs to HHS, OFO did not transfer all such UAC apprehended at air POEs as required by TVPRA. Specifically, our analysis of CBP data shows that OFO repatriated about 45 percent (459 of 1,037) of such UAC apprehended at air POEs from fiscal years 2012 through 2014. OFO headquarters officials stated that they were aware that all non-Canadian and non-Mexican UAC are to be transferred to HHS, including those apprehended at air POEs, and initially stated that the officers at air POEs had entered incorrect data into OFO’s automated system, such as coding an accompanied child as an unaccompanied child. We analyzed a nongeneralizable random sample of Form I-213s for 19 cases in which OFO apprehended non-Canadian and non-Mexican UAC at air POEs and repatriated them. In general, we found that the documentation indicated that these were not data entry errors. Rather, the documentation indicated that these UAC who were repatriated, for example, had attended or were seeking to attend school without the correct visa, or seeking employment without the proper visa.