The Biden administration “ignored or dismissed” more than 65,000 reports related to migrant children — including more than 7,300 reports of human trafficking, according to details of a Department of Health and Human Services summary released by Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Of the reports, 56,591 were “notifications of concern, 7,346 reports of human trafficking and 1,688 fraud leads,” according to a press release from Grassley. The Trump administration has since taken the responsibility on, having processed more than 28 percent of the backlog left by the Biden administration, according to the press release. There have been seven indictments, 25 arrest warrants, 11 arrests and three convictions, according to the release.
In a statement, Grassley, who has been spearheading efforts to save migrant children being exploited and abused, alleged that the Biden administration placed “unaccompanied migrant children with dangerous sponsors and actively obstruct[ed] law enforcement and Congress’ efforts to rescue vulnerable kids.”
The Trump administration said it would now address the issue.
“[Office of Refugee Resettlement] is digging through nearly 65,000 reports of concern about unaccompanied alien children — most ignored, many dismissed — each one a missed chance to protect a child,” the Department of Health and Human Services said in a post on X. “This isn’t just paperwork. This is a systemic failure of the Biden administration. It is children’s lives put at risk. Now, it’s all ORR hands on deck. We’re combing through every report, every detail — because protecting children isn’t optional.”
“The Trump administration WILL NOT look away. The system may have failed before, but not on our watch,” the post continued.
Grassley recently sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., detailing the “poor vetting of sponsors of unaccompanied alien children.” Grassley submitted a law enforcement referral in 2024 flagging potentially criminal activity in the alien unaccompanied children program. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) then identified more than 100 sponsors but, according to Grassley’s letter to Kennedy, the Biden administration failed to respond to adequately to the subpoenas issued by law enforcement.
“[Homeland Security Investigations] analyzed [referrals] and determined over 100 sponsors were suspicious enough to warrant further investigation, from a single HHS emergency intake site,” the letter states. “In response, HSI issued subpoenas to HHS for information to assist it in finding suspicious sponsors identified in my referral, and the children they sponsored.”
But, according to the letter, then HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra “failed to fully comply with two-thirds of subpoenas they issued.” This contributed to HSI “only [finding] a handful of sponsors and children,” the letter states.
An April 2025 report from the DHS and Office of Inspector General confirmed Grassley’s concerns, finding the Biden administration lost track of hundreds of thousands of migrant children.
The Biden administration saw more than 10 million illegal alien encounters, according to estimates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
