DHS Finds 146,000 Missing Unaccompanied Minors, 300,000 Still Unaccounted For
On Friday, DHS officials revealed that a nationwide search launched in late 2024 has uncovered roughly 146,000 unaccompanied minors who vanished after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration. Yet, a staggering 300,000 children remain missing.
During a joint press conference at the Department of Justice headquarters, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, "We found 146,000 kids so far. 146,000 kids. We still have nearly 300,000 missing. When we start digging into these cases, and you start hearing the absolute horrific things that took place underneath the Biden administration, either true neglect at best and criminal at worst, to allow 450,000 kids to go missing throughout this country." He followed the statement with a briefing outlining the steps DHS is taking to locate the remaining children.
Between 2019 and 2023, the Biden administration recorded more than 10 million migrants entering the United States through the southern border, with over half a million of them being unaccompanied minors. After initial processing by DHS, the children were either released into the community or transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Law required HHS to vet adult sponsors before releasing a minor, a process that includes checking government databases, verifying identities, and conducting background checks—often involving an FBI fingerprint background check.
A February 2024 audit by the HHS Office of Inspector General found that at least 16 percent of case files lacked proof that sponsors had undergone the required safety checks. The audit also revealed that at least 19 percent of children were released before the government received the mandatory FBI fingerprint background results. These gaps in the sponsor‑vetting process could have allowed unsafe placements.
Federal officials warned that human‑trafficking rings and smugglers exploited these loopholes. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "The criminals calling themselves sponsors trafficked these children to the border, usually committing fraud to do so, and oftentimes the children were abused, assaulted, and certainly exploited. In some cases, individuals would sponsor multiple children, which required them to lie to government personnel and on government forms, claiming they were close relatives, when in fact they were not. They would use fake or stolen identities and make other false claims during the application process in order to obtain custody of the children." Blanche also referenced a newly unsealed federal indictment against three Guatemalan adults accused of smuggling and trafficking more than a dozen children.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R‑Iowa) praised the enforcement efforts on X, "I spent YRS sharing whistleblower evidence of migrant child trafficking w the Biden admin while my Democrat colleagues turned a blind eye."
The DHS briefing concluded that task forces are actively searching for the remaining 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children who are still missing. Mullin added, "We’re going to rescue as many kids as we possibly can."
These findings raise serious questions about the adequacy of the sponsor‑vetting system and the extent of child exploitation that may have occurred during the Biden administration. The current Trump administration has cited the audit findings as evidence that the vetting system was fundamentally broken. DHS and DOJ continue investigations into the missing minors and the alleged trafficking networks that may have facilitated their disappearance.
