Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Thursday that the Trump administration has located at least 146,000 migrant children who were previously unaccounted who illegally entered the United States during the Biden administration.
Speaking at a press conference, Mullin said officials inherited a situation in which roughly 450,000 migrant children had effectively gone missing after being released to sponsors or otherwise leaving federal custody.
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According to Mullin, nearly 300,000 children remain unaccounted for as investigators continue searching for them across the country.
“We’re investigating reports to where some of these kids claim that they were raped 600 to 700 times,” Mullin said.
“I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you have kids. You don’t have kids. I don’t care if you’re a liberal, you’re independent, you’re a Democrat. You’re Republican,” he continued.
“If you can’t stand for law enforcement to go find these kids, who are you?”
Mullin also claimed that many of the children are being located in sanctuary jurisdictions.
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“And do you know where we’re finding the most of them: sanctuary cities,” he said.
The comments came as federal officials highlighted ongoing efforts to identify and recover migrant children who entered the United States without parents or legal guardians and were later released to sponsors.
The issue gained national attention after the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released a report in August 2024 examining the handling of unaccompanied minors.
The inspector general found that between fiscal years 2019 and 2023, more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children were transferred from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to the Department of Health and Human Services for placement with sponsors.
According to the report, approximately 291,000 of those children were never issued notices requiring them to appear in immigration court after their release.
Another 32,000 children failed to appear for scheduled immigration proceedings.
Federal officials have since attempted to locate many of those minors, though questions remain about the precise status and whereabouts of large numbers of children included in those figures.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also announced criminal charges Thursday against three Guatemalan nationals in Ohio accused of submitting false information in order to become sponsors for migrant children and receive financial benefits.
Federal prosecutors allege the defendants fraudulently participated in the sponsorship process designed to place unaccompanied minors with vetted adults while their immigration cases proceeded.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, praised the administration’s enforcement efforts and argued that concerns about the migrant sponsorship system had been ignored for years.
“I spent YRS sharing whistleblower evidence of migrant child trafficking w the Biden admin while my Democrat colleagues turned a blind eye,” Grassley wrote on social media.
The Trump administration has also directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prioritize investigations involving allegations that migrant children may have been trafficked, abused or exploited after being released to sponsors.
Officials say those efforts include examining leads involving sex predators and criminal organizations that may have taken advantage of weaknesses in the vetting process.
Records previously reported from the Office of Refugee Resettlement indicated that some Biden administration officials emphasized quickly placing children with sponsors.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was previously quoted as comparing the desired pace of releasing children to an “assembly line,” according to reporting by The New York Times.
The Trump administration argues that faster processing contributed to inadequate screening and insufficient follow-up after children were released.
The Biden administration previously maintained that many children categorized as “missing” had simply lost contact with federal agencies or failed to attend scheduled immigration proceedings rather than being physically untraceable, The New York Post reported.
Federal authorities say the effort to locate the remaining children is ongoing as investigators continue pursuing leads across the country and prosecuting individuals accused of exploiting the migrant sponsorship system.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
