Federal authorities have located thousands of unaccompanied minors who disappeared during the Biden administration, with investigations revealing disturbing cases of exploitation, trafficking and death among vulnerable migrant children.
The Trump administration has successfully tracked down 22,638 children since March, according to officials who spoke with Fox News.
These children were among an estimated 233,000 unaccompanied minors who crossed the US-Mexico border during President Joe Biden’s tenure and subsequently went missing from government records.
Investigators discovered children living in what officials described as deplorable conditions.
John Fabbricatore, senior advisor for the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, detailed the horrific discoveries to Fox. “We found children who have been raped,” Fabbricatore stated.
The investigation uncovered multiple forms of exploitation targeting these vulnerable minors.
“We’re talking about debt bondage, where children are being made to work off debt, trafficking debt. We’re talking about children that were brought into situations and then treated like sexual slaves,” Fabbricatore explained during his interview with the network.
At least 27 children from this missing population have been confirmed dead.
The causes of death include murder, suicide, car accidents and drug overdoses, highlighting the dangerous situations these minors faced after disappearing from government oversight.
Fabbricatore provided specific examples of the dangerous environments these children encountered.
“Children are in horrific environments, just environments that they should not be in, where the sponsor is a heroin dealer and that child winds up dying of a heroin overdose,” he explained.
The government classifies these children as unaccompanied minors, defined as underage migrants who crossed the US border without a parent or legal guardian present.
Even when traveling with relatives such as uncles or older siblings, minors are considered unaccompanied if not accompanied by legal parents.
Many parents already residing in the United States saved money to pay smugglers for bringing their children across the border.
This practice separated families and placed children at risk during dangerous border crossings.
A heartbreaking case from November involved a two-year-old girl from El Salvador who told Texas Department of Safety troopers she was traveling to reunite with her parents.
The child was found alone after crossing the border.
During Biden’s presidency, the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border increased dramatically alongside overall illegal immigration rates.
Children frequently arrived completely alone after smugglers pushed them over border walls and abandoned them.
Border Patrol agents discovered extreme cases of child abandonment, including a 2-month-old baby found in Rio Grande City, Texas.
The agency shared details of this case on its Instagram account in September 2023, calling it “a chilling reminder of how children are being exploited by human smugglers & criminal organizations every day.”
In another disturbing instance, two brothers were discovered at the Texas-Mexico border with contact information for US relatives written in marker on their clothing.
Someone had handwritten family members’ information directly onto their shirts.
Government statistics reveal that 470,000 children without parents or guardians illegally crossed into the US between 2021 and 2024, the Daily Mail outlined.
This massive influx overwhelmed existing systems designed to protect vulnerable minors.
Current US policy allows unaccompanied minors to remain in the country after crossing the border illegally. The government places them in specialized children’s shelters until they can be reunited with relatives in the United States, rather than initiating deportation proceedings.
Biden administration officials were responsible for vetting adults claiming these children to verify actual family relationships. However, the system failed to maintain adequate oversight of children’s whereabouts after placement with sponsors.
“There wasn’t very good record-keeping” under the Biden administration, Fabbricatore noted.
