The Trump administration has located more than 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children who were previously unaccounted for amid concerns about human trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor.
At least 13,061 migrant children, who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied by an adult, have been located, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official confirmed to NewsNation. At least 422 sponsors who cared for unaccompanied minor children upon their arrival in the U.S. had been arrested on charges of abusing the minors in their custody or other crimes, the source said.
An August 2024 report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General stated that “ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Custody.”
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According to data in the report, DHS transferred 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children to the custody of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement Services (ORR) between 2019 and 2023.
ORR cares for immigrant children awaiting court proceedings to determine whether they have valid asylum claims to remain in the U.S. ICE manages the legal proceedings of the unaccompanied minors.
The report found that 32,000 unaccompanied illegal immigrant children failed to show up for their court hearings, while estimating that the number of missing unaccompanied migrant children could be even higher because 291,000 minors have not received Notices to Appear that inform them of their court dates.
“Based on our audit work and according to ICE officials, [unaccompanied children] who do not appear for court are considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” the report reads.
“By not issuing NTAs to all UCs, ICE limits its chances of having contact with UCs when they are released from HHS’ custody, which reduces opportunities to verify their safety. Without an ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, ICE has no assurance UCs are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” the report added.
After winning the 2024 presidential election, President Donald Trump vowed in an interview with Time Magazine that he would work to “find where [the unaccompanied children] are and get them back to their parents.”
The Trump administration is asking unaccompanied migrant children if they would like to self-deport to their home countries. In a statement to CNN, a DHS spokesperson defended the policy as “a long-standing practice that was used by previous administrations to prioritize getting children back to the safety of a parent or legal guardian in their home country.”
“The policy of offering unaccompanied alien children (UACs) the option to withdraw their application for admission into the U.S. is accredited in the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022,” the spokesperson asserted. The spokesperson stressed that the Big Beautiful Bill recently signed into law by Trump enables unaccompanied migrant children from countries other than Mexico and Canada to exercise this option.
In a statement issued in response to the CNN report, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin insisted that “The safety of children and ensuring they are reunited with their parents or safe guardian is [the] top priority of the Trump Administration, which stands in stark contrast to the nearly 300,000 migrant children that were lost under the Biden Administration.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
