Bombshell Report Confirms Grassley Oversight of Biden-Harris Admin’s Failure to Protect Migrant Children

Nonpartisan watchdog found Biden-Harris administration lost track of hundreds-of-thousands of children, placed children with dangerous sponsors and restricted information sharing with law enforcement.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) confirmed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) numerous concerns about abuse in the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) unaccompanied alien children (UAC) program. Under the Biden-Harris administration, more than 500,000 children crossed the Southern border and entered the UAC program, while cartel trafficking activity surged.

Grassley repeatedly warned that the Biden-Harris UAC program’s inadequate safeguards, lax vetting procedures and limited inter-agency communication allowed children to be lost or released to dangerous adult sponsors. DHS OIG’s report validated all of Grassley’s findings. Notably, the report exposed how DHS was prevented from receiving key HHS information to follow up on potential criminal sponsors. Grassley broke through this inter-agency firewall last year by submitting a law enforcement referral to DHS containing HHS information provided to Grassley by legally protected whistleblowers. DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations followed up on 102 investigative targets Grassley identified.

“My oversight revealed the Biden-Harris administration prioritized speed and optics over the safety and security of hundreds-of-thousands of migrant children. DHS OIG’s report echoes my longstanding concerns and further fuels the fire of my investigative and legislative work. I’ll continue fighting to ensure abuse like this never happens again,” Grassley said.

The DHS OIG report found that:

HHS and DHS lost track of hundreds of thousands of migrant children.
- HHS failed to provide DHS complete sponsor addresses for over 31,000 unaccompanied migrant children. Without sponsor addresses, law enforcement is unable to keep track of migrant children.
  - DHS law enforcement officers additionally estimated that addresses collected by HHS were incorrect 80 percent of the time.
- DHS officers failed to enroll over 233,000 migrant children who crossed the border since January 2021 in immigration proceedings, increasing their risk of trafficking and exploitation.
  - Of those enrolled, more than 43,000 children failed to appear.
- HHS failed to provide updated sponsor information to DHS when sponsors changed addresses, further hindering DHS’s ability to find children.

HHS placed migrant children with potentially dangerous sponsors.
- In Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, HHS released more than 24,100 migrant children to unrelated sponsors or distant relatives. Law enforcement officers note these children are at the highest risk for trafficking.
- HHS frequently placed migrant children in rundown apartment complexes and dilapidated motels with barred windows, appliances stacked on patios and apartments with no doors or kitchens.
  - Local police noted many of these properties were located in areas with high violent crime rates, daily shootings and gang activity.
- Multiple DHS offices confirmed HHS released children to incomplete or commercial addresses, and ICE officials at one field office noted the Biden HHS released 34 children to two addresses that didn’t exist.

The Biden-Harris administration limited HHS employees’ communication with law enforcement.
- HHS failed to provide DHS law enforcement officers with accurate or timely information regarding the status and safety of migrant children.
- A 2021 Biden-Harris inter-agency agreement restricted HHS from sharing sponsors’ biometric information with law enforcement officers.
  - DHS law enforcement noted this restrictive agreement prevents law enforcement from having input regarding children’s sponsors.
- DHS law enforcement officers stated they were open to sharing information with HHS, but HHS did not share information with them. One officer noted, “Getting information from HHS is like pulling teeth.”
  - According to these officers, the Biden-Harris HHS feared that sharing sponsor information could lead to law enforcement actions against sponsors, especially those with criminal history or lacking legal immigration status.

The vast majority of migrant children discussed in the report date to the Biden-Harris administration, according to a related DHS OIG report released in August.

Read the full DHS OIG report HERE.

Grassley discussed the report in a speech on the Senate floor.

Background:
Grassley has led efforts to protect unaccompanied migrant children from exploitation and abuse for more than a decade. See an overview of his work below:

03.11.2025 | Grassley Reignites Oversight of HHS’s Unaccompanied Migrant Children Program

01.14.2025 | Grassley, Blackburn Introduce Legislation to Halt Child Trafficking at the Border

10.18.2024 | Biden-Harris HHS Can’t Account to Congress for Status of Thousands of Unaccompanied Minors

10.16.2024 | ICYMI: Grassley Recognized for Work to Combat Sex-Trafficking Crisis: ‘The Only Person in a Position of Power Who Cares’

09.23.2024 | Grassley Leads Bicameral Colleagues in Calling Out Abuses in the Biden-Harris Unaccompanied Migrant Children Program

09.18.2024 | Democrats Block Grassley Effort to Protect Unaccompanied Migrant Children from Sexual Harm

09.17.2024 | Grassley: Not One More Child Should Have to Suffer Abuse Because of Biden-Harris Policies

09.04.2024 | Grassley Puts HHS Vetting, Information-Sharing under Microscope amid Biden-Harris Admin’s Neglect to Protect Migrant Children

07.11.2024 | RECORDS: HHS Sent Unaccompanied Minors to Sponsors with MS-13 Ties, Potential Trafficking Rings

07.09.2024 | Grassley Highlights Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Children During Senate Roundtable

07.09.2024 | Grassley Delivers Opening Remarks At Roundtable On Abuse Of Unaccompanied Migrant Children

07.08.2024 | ICYMI: WSJ Reveals Alarming ‘Dilemma’ At The Heart Of Biden’s Unaccompanied Minors Program