THOUSANDS OF UNACCOMPANIED ALIEN CHILDREN PLACED WITH UNVETTED SPONSORS UNDER BIDEN
The counties of origin for, and number of, unaccompanied alien children who entered the U.S. from fiscal years 2021-2024 (left chart) and from fiscal year 2025 (beginning Oct., 1, 2024) through June 5, 2025 (right chart). (Office of Refugee Resettlement)
The Biden administration placed thousands of illegal alien children in the care of unvetted sponsors, according to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The Iowa Republican has released Department of Health and Human Services data showing that during President Joe Biden’s administration, over 11,000 unaccompanied alien children were placed with unvetted sponsors who were not the children’s parents or legal guardians. Additionally, no home visits were conducted for over 79,000 illegal immigrant children.
Moreover, some children were “allowed to be placed with sponsors who were actually smugglers and sex traffickers,” according to the HHS. “My oversight continues to expose disturbing evidence that the Biden-Harris administration turned a blind eye to tens of thousands of kids who needed proper supervision and care,” Grassley said in a statement.
“It’s appalling to prioritize speed and optics over the safety and well-being of children,” the senator continued.
Grassley requested the HHS data during the Biden administration but did not receive the data until President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to the senator’s office.
“I appreciate the Trump administration’s efforts to undo the damage caused by the last administration’s failed border policies, and I’ll continue my oversight of the issue to ensure abuse like this never happens again,” Grassley pledged.
According to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR – See charts above)), which operates under HHS, the office “cared for” 468,000 unaccompanied alien children between October 2020 and September 2024, until they were placed with sponsors. From October 2024 to June 2025, the office cared for over 21,000 unaccompanied alien children.
The largest percentage of children who have entered the U.S. alone and illegally in recent years are from Guatemala and Honduras.
Since Trump returned to the White House, his administration has located over 13,000 children who crossed the border unaccompanied under Biden, the Department of Homeland Security announced in July.
During a recent House Oversight subcommittee hearing, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told members of Congress that between fiscal years 2019 and 2023, more than 448,000 unaccompanied alien children were transferred from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to the custody of HHS.
Among those 448,000 minors, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement failed to issue more than 233,000 notices to appear in immigration court, according to the inspector general. Furthermore, more than 43,000 migrant children who were given a notice to appear in immigration court failed to do so.
According to John Fabbricatore, a senior adviser at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the Biden administration didn’t properly vet sponsors, causing minors to be released to individuals posing as family who later sexually abused the children in their custody.
For instance, a 37-year-old illegal immigrant man was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing at least one teen girl who the Biden administration sent to live with him.
The Trump administration has been involved in numerous prosecutions of sponsors who are involved in trafficking, border czar Tom Homan has announced.
“President Trump has three priorities: Secure the border, which you have the most secure border in history; No. 2, remove public safety threats and national security threats that are illegal; and third, find the children,” Homan said. “We take it very seriously.”
The Office of Refugee Resettlement needs to investigate every unaccompanied child who crossed the border during the Biden administration to make sure they’re safe, Fabbricatore said.
“The Biden administration’s whole process was based on speed to get them into the United States so as fast as they could go to release them out of care. The paperwork that was done and the information that was gathered was so abysmal that really we are concerned about every single child that came in under the Biden administration.”
The Office of Refugee Resettlement is knocking on the door of each sponsor to collect DNA samples, fingerprints, and financial records; to perform background checks; and to determine whether the sponsor is suited to care for children.
“Our policy is so much stronger than the policy under the Biden administration now that we can continue to strengthen it as we move forward, to ensure that these children are in a proper environment,” Fabbricatore said.
Virginia Allen is a senior news producer for The Daily Signal.