The Trump administration’s push to recover missing migrant children is paying off, with more than 127,000 minors now located after being lost under the Biden administration, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday.
"The best thing for this holiday season is that we have found over 127,000… of the almost half-million children Biden facilitated coming into this country and getting trafficked. We're finding them, and we're returning them back to their families and bringing them to safety."
Noem touted the Trump administration's – and Homeland Security's – role in enacting policies that "keep people safe."
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"That's why I love this job, because I get the chance to get up every day and do something that matters," she said.
While Noem referenced nearly 500,000 unaccompanied children, that figure appears to reflect government estimates reported last year of the total number of migrant minors – more than 448,000 – who entered the U.S. and were released to sponsors between 2019 and 2023, not an official tally of children confirmed missing or trafficked.
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The same report from the Homeland Security Inspector General's office said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lacked reliable data to consistently monitor the location and status of many of the unaccompanied migrant children after their release to sponsors, citing failures such as missing notices to appear in immigration court and gaps in follow-up communication between federal agencies.
In fact, the report's summary of issues adds that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings within the 2019 to 2023 timeframe, among other data gaps, per reports from ICE.
Since retaking office in January, President Donald Trump has tasked members of his administration, chiefly border czar Tom Homan, with finding the unaccounted for children, many of whom had been released to unvetted sponsors or non-family members, leaving them vulnerable to potential exploitation, trafficking and harsh working conditions.
Fox News' Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.
