SORNA and other federal laws identify certain points in time when sex  offenders should be informed of their registration requirements and when  relevant jurisdiction officials—that is, state, territorial, and tribal sex  offender registry and law enforcement officials—should be informed that a  sex offender has been released in their jurisdiction. For example, 42  U.S.C. Most Alien Sex Offenders under ICE- ERO Supervision Were Registered, but About 5 Percent Were Not

On the basis of our analysis of a representative sample of 131 alien sex  offenders under ICE supervision, and for whom ICE had a record of the  alien’s complete date of birth, we estimate that as of September 2012, 72  percent of alien sex offenders were registered in the jurisdictions where  they lived, 22 percent were not required to register, and 5 percent did not  register but should have. The ICE-ERO field office  did not inform 2 of the 6 alien sex offenders about their registration  requirements, but did inform the remaining 4 offenders. However, officials  at some field offices identified several reasons why they did not ensure  that these offenders actually registered. First, the offender may have  moved to another state and no longer resided in the area of responsibility  for that particular field office. Alien Sex Offenders May Not Be Informed of Potential Registration Requirements, and Jurisdiction Officials May Not Be Notified When an Offender Is Removed or Released

Other state and federal correctional and supervision agencies are limited  in the information they can provide to and about alien sex offenders to  help ensure that these offenders are registered, but ICE-ERO may be in a  position to help address these notification gaps. We found that ICE-ERO  informs alien sex offenders who are removed from the country about  potential registration requirements, but ICE-ERO does not consistently  inform alien sex offenders who are released under ICE-ERO supervision  about these requirements. Other Agencies Inform Sex Offenders of Requirements and Notify Jurisdiction Officials, but Are Limited in What They Can Do to Help Ensure Alien Sex Offenders Are Registered

Federal and state correctional and supervision agencies have processes  in place to inform sex offenders of their registration requirements and  notify jurisdictions when sex offenders are released from criminal custody. Project Management Institute’s The Standard for Program Management©. ICE-ERO Does Not Notify Relevant Sex Offender Registry and Law Enforcement Officials When an Alien Sex Offender Is Removed or Released under Supervision

ICE-ERO also does not notify sex offender registry and law enforcement  officials when an alien sex offender is removed from the country or  released under supervision, in part because ICE-ERO officials stated that  the extent to which ICE-ERO has the authority or responsibility to do so is  questionable. ICE-ERO Plans to Review Notification Options for Offenders under Supervision, but Has Not Set a Deadline for Doing So, and Does Not Plan to Consider Options for Removed Offenders

ICE-ERO plans to review options to help address notification gaps  pertaining to alien sex offenders who are released under order of  supervision, but has not established a deadline for when it will complete  this review. Marshals  Service and the SMART Office stated that ICE-ERO was in the best  position to inform alien sex offenders about potential registration  requirements, and to notify relevant jurisdiction officials—either state  registry or law enforcement officials—when an alien sex offender is  removed from the country or released, because ICE-ERO is the last  federal agency that has had contact with these offenders and releases  these offenders from custody into the community. DHS agreed with our recommendations that ICE-ERO establish deadlines  for when it will complete its review of the Form I-220B addendum and its  assessment of options for informing alien sex offenders who are released  under order of supervision about their potential registration  responsibilities. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

This report addresses the following objectives:  (1) To what extent are alien sex offenders under the Enforcement and  Removal Operations division of U.S. Immigration and Customs  Enforcement (ICE-ERO) order of supervision registered as sex  offenders? ICE-ERO provided us  with the names for 2,837 alien sex offenders under orders of supervision  as of September 2012. To address our second objective, we reviewed the Sex Offender  Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA), other applicable laws,  and guidelines developed by the Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring,  Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) Office to obtain  information on federal sex offender registration requirements. In addition, we interviewed officials from the U.S.
Why GAO Did This Study

ICE-ERO uses orders of supervision to release from custody criminal aliens--including sex offenders--who have been ordered to be removed from the United States, but cannot be removed for various reasons or detained indefinitely under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. In July 2006, SORNA was enacted, which established minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification. Congressional requesters asked GAO to assess registration of alien sex offenders. This report addresses the extent to which alien sex offenders (1) under ICE-ERO order of supervision are registered and (2) who are removed or released under ICE-ERO order of supervision are informed of registration requirements and relevant jurisdiction officials are notified about these offenders. GAO analyzed a representative sample of 131 of 1,309 alien sex offenders who were under orders of supervision as of September 2012. GAO also interviewed officials from ICE-ERO, the SMART Office, and other relevant federal, state registry and local law enforcement agencies.

What GAO Found

On the basis of GAO's analysis of a representative sample of 131 alien sex offenders under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supervision, GAO estimates that as of September 2012, 72 percent of alien sex offenders were registered, 22 percent were not required to register, and 5 percent did not register but should have. According to officials, offenders were not required to register for various reasons, such as the offense not requiring registration in some states. Of the 6 offenders in GAO's sample that should have registered, officials from ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) field offices informed 4 of their registration requirements. However, officials at some of these field offices identified several reasons why they did not ensure that these offenders actually registered. For example, the offender may have moved and no longer resided in the area of responsibility for that particular field office. ICE had not informed the remaining 2 offenders of their registration requirements.
Alien sex offenders are not consistently informed of potential registration requirements, and relevant jurisdiction officials--that is, state, territorial, and tribal sex offender registry and law enforcement officials--are not consistently notified when an offender is removed from the country or released. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA) and other federal laws identify when sex offenders and relevant jurisdiction officials should be notified. However, the agencies that have these notification responsibilities are limited in their ability to provide information to and about alien sex offenders, in part because they do not know when ICE-ERO will release or remove these offenders. ICE-ERO has a procedure in place to inform alien sex offenders who are being removed about potential registration requirements, but not alien sex offenders who are being released into the community under supervision, primarily because ICE-ERO is uncertain whether it has a responsibility to do so. ICE-ERO also does not consistently notify relevant jurisdiction officials when an alien sex offender is removed or released under supervision, for similar reasons. However, officials from the Department of Justice's Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) Office said that state correctional facilities, in the interest of public safety, have notification processes in place, even though sometimes not required to do so. ICE-ERO is reviewing options for informing alien sex offenders under supervision about their potential registration requirements and notifying jurisdictions when alien sex offenders are released under supervision, but has not established a deadline for completing its review, which is inconsistent with project management standards. Without a deadline, it will be difficult to hold ICE-ERO accountable for providing these notifications. Further, ICE-ERO does not plan to notify relevant jurisdictions when an alien sex offender is removed. Providing such notification could help jurisdictions ensure public safety and avoid unnecessarily spending resources trying to locate the offender.
This is a public version of a sensitive security report GAO issued in August 2013, which also included information about steps ICE has taken to determine its responsibility for informing alien sex offenders of their notification requirements.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends, among other things, that ICE-ERO (1) set a deadline for its review of options for providing notifications to and about alien sex offenders under supervision and (2) in consultation with SMART and others, consider options for notifying jurisdictions about removed offenders. ICE agreed with the recommendations.