Category: Immigration

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Border Czar Tom Homan revealed that the Trump administration has located approximately 25,000 migrant children who were unaccounted for after crossing the border alone under former President Joe Biden.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Trump administration officials, Tom Homan, whistleblowers, and the former Biden government.

💬KEY QUOTE: “We’ve rescued thousands of children, and President Trump is committed, I’m committed, that we’re not gonna stop looking for these children ’til we find every single one of them or run down the leads on them.” – Tom Homan

🎯IMPACT: Thousands of children have been rescued, and the Biden government’s vetting system for sponsors has been criticized for enabling trafficking and abuse, with federal whistleblowers exposing significant failures.

The Trump administration has located approximately 25,000 migrant children who were previously unaccounted for after entering the United States alone during former President Joe Biden’s term, according to Border Czar Tom Homan. The children had gone missing after being released into the country under a flawed sponsor vetting system.

According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general, around 320,000 unaccompanied migrant children were released to sponsors between October 2018 and September 2023. As of May 2024, roughly 291,000 of them were never assigned future immigration court dates, making it nearly impossible for authorities to track their whereabouts. An additional 32,000 children who received court dates failed to appear.

While some of the missing children were found hiding with relatives to avoid deportation, many were discovered in dangerous and abusive situations. “They were enslaved to work ungodly hours, not going to school… not being paid, being abused,” Homan said. “We’ve rescued thousands of children, and President Trump is committed, I’m committed, that we’re not gonna stop looking for these children ’til we find every single one of them or run down the leads on them.”

Homan also confirmed that 27 of the children were found to have died.

Migrant children released under the Biden-Harris administration were effectively “lost,” with no oversight or follow-up. Internal whistleblowers from HHS have come forward alleging systemic failures in the vetting process used to place children with sponsors. One whistleblower told a Senate panel that she faced retaliation after reporting that children were being sent to non-relatives or individuals with signs of trafficking or abuse.

Another whistleblower, Deborah White, testified that the government and its contractors were complicit in endangering children by failing to ensure proper placement. “Children were not going to their parents. Children were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely, with government officials complicit in it,” she said.

White also described how staff were discouraged from investigating red flags and that fake identification documents were common. “We never saw sponsors face-to-face, and fake documents were rampant,” she said. “When we questioned documents… leadership said, ‘You’re not a fake ID expert, and your job is not to investigate the sponsor. Your job is to reunify the child with the sponsor.’”

Attempts to contact foreign consulates or follow up on children’s welfare were reportedly met with reprimands.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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