“Border Patrol officials were unsure of the extent of these problems, and stated that, among other things, data-entry errors may have arisen due to demands on agents as the number of family unit apprehensions increased,” the report continued. “Thus, it is unclear the extent to which Border Patrol has accurate records of separated family unit members in its data system. Further, Border Patrol agents inconsistently recorded information about the reasons for and circumstances surrounding family separations on required forms.”

Previous government watchdog investigators have already confirmed they “found no evidence” of a supposed “central database” that Department of Homeland Security officials claimed connected separated parents and children. The negligence is criminal—and remember the administration wanted to go even further. The DHS inspector general said in a report last year that officials had planned to kidnap upward of 26,000 children before a federal judge’s June 2018 order blocked the “zero tolerance” policy. That report further said it was unable to confirm exactly how many children the administration took because officials failed to implement needed technology for tracking.

Earlier this year, Physicians for Human Rights said the policy constituted “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” that rose “to the level of torture,” further concluding it was a form of enforced disappearance, “which is prohibited under international law in all circumstances,” they wrote. “In all cases documented by PHR, there was a period where parents were unaware of their children’s whereabouts, were not able to contact them and had no assurance of, or timeline for, eventual contact or reunification … parents who asked U.S. officials about the wellbeing and whereabouts of their children were not given answers for weeks and months at a time. The concealment and lack of contact points to the crime of enforced disappearance.”

“Not only was this administration’s family separation policy heartless—they bungled its implementation at every turn," House Homeland Security Committee chair Bennie Thompson told BuzzFeed News in response to the new GAO report. "The Acting DHS Secretary claims no children have been lost—but is withholding documents on this matter from Congress. It’s time for the Administration to come clean and provide these so we can get a full accounting of this policy.”