About 70 percent of immigrants who have crossed into the U.S. since January have failed to meet with federal officials as required and instead have disappeared into the population throughout the country, according to the AP.
Recordings of a Homeland Security Department official show that almost three-quarters of those who arrived in the U.S. since the start of the year did not follow regulations to meet with officials in the prescribed 15 days. That percentage could place the number of immigrants who have disappeared into the country at more than 40,000.
On the recordings, an unidentified official said final deportations have been ordered for at least 860 people traveling as families and caught at the border since May, but only 14 reported as required. More than 66,000 immigrants, mostly mothers and young children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Hondourus, have been detained at the border since Oct. 1, 2013.
The government requires those who are apprehended to report back to the nearest Immigration and Customs Enforcement office within 15 days. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement has placed 634 children in Alabama since January, mostly in Marshall and Jefferson counties.