Locating Unaccompanied Children, Addressing Trafficking Concerns

The Department of Homeland Security announced that the Trump administration has located 13,000 children who crossed the border unaccompanied during the Biden administration. The DHS also stated that under the Biden administration, approximately 300,000 unaccompanied alien children were either unaccounted for or placed with sponsors who were not properly vetted. Some of these children were reportedly placed with individuals involved in smuggling and sex trafficking.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem emphasized the severity of human trafficking, calling it modern-day slavery. She asserted that the Biden administration's border policies had enabled a large-scale human trafficking operation. In March, the Department of Health and Human Services identified 65,000 unresolved reports concerning unaccompanied alien children from the previous administration.

HHS is currently investigating these reports, which have generated over 4,000 investigative leads related to fraud, human trafficking, and other criminal activities. Noem expressed the belief that there is an opportunity to combat human trafficking operations targeting the United States, and that the Trump administration would work with all levels of government to address this issue.

Since the start of the Trump administration, DHS has located and rescued several unaccompanied migrant children. One case involved a pregnant 14-year-old girl in Texas who was living with an unrelated adult male sponsor, who was later identified as the father of the unborn child. In another instance, Homeland Security Investigations in Nashville found a child and her 18-year-old brother who were victims of labor trafficking. They were forced to work to pay off smuggling fees and household expenses for their sponsor.

During a House Oversight subcommittee hearing, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari reported that between fiscal years 2019 and 2023, over 448,000 unaccompanied alien children were transferred from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to HHS custody. ICE failed to issue over 233,000 notices to appear in immigration court for these minors. Furthermore, over 43,000 migrant children who were given a notice to appear in immigration court did not do so.

ICE and DHS teams, in collaboration with other federal law enforcement agencies, have visited approximately 50,000 sponsors who were listed as sponsoring multiple illegal-alien children. Cuffari stated that they were able to identify and physically locate 12,000 unaccompanied alien children, and that around 400 sponsors had been arrested following these home visits. DHS stated that President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to protecting children and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families.