The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uncovered widespread instances of unaccompanied migrant children placed with unvetted sponsors with criminal backgrounds during the Biden administration, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Children who had no parents or legal guardians that were handed over to unvetted sponsors suffered from sexual abuse, forced labor, and neglectful living conditions, ICE stated in a press release in June. The findings stem from a months-long investigation by the agency to ensure the children were safe.
“In February 2025, the Department of Homeland Security and its federal and state partners launched a national child welfare initiative to locate and verify these at-risk kids’ safety,” according to the DHS announcement.
Agents found numerous instances where sponsors had previously been charged with serious crimes such as “hit-and-run, aggravated assault, larceny, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, prostitution and even attempted murder,” according to the release.
In some of the most extreme cases, girls were found to be “pregnant with children fathered by their alleged sponsors,” with some minor being forced into labor, the release stated. Some sponsors also had images of child sex abuse material.
“Children’s safety and security is nonnegotiable. The previous administration’s failure to implement meaningful safeguards has allowed vulnerable kids to fall into the hands of criminals. Our special agents are working tirelessly to locate these alien children, ensure their protection, and hold accountable those who have abused the system,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Laszlo Baksay said in a prepared statement.
ICE agents are “doing what should’ve been done all along: protecting children,” Baksay continued, adding that this “is the responsibility of any government, Republican or Democrat, but it was the Trump administration that insisted on rigorous sponsor screening and biometric verification.”
“Many of the unaccompanied children who came across the border are victims of smugglers and sex traffickers. DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure they are safe and not being exploited,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in s statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“These welfare checks have resulted in arrests of some sponsors of these unaccompanied minors and as a result the children have been placed in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody,” McLaughlin added.
She named the case of Adelso Garcia Martinez, a Guatemalan national who she said was charged with attempted aggravated homicide and had a warrant issued for his arrest in February 2021 “approximately 3 months before he entered the U.S.”
“Despite the previous administration being aware of his charges for attempted aggravated homicide, he was still approved to be a sponsor of an unaccompanied 14 year-old family member in 2023,” McLaughlin said in the statement.
The Trump administration’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Garcia Martinez in May, McLaughlin noted.
“On another welfare check, the unaccompanied child told agents her sponsor, Luis Alonso ARGUETA Diaz, arranged for her to be smuggled into the U.S. and transported to Virginia for a total of $20,000,” the assistant secretary added. “Luis Alonso ARGUETA Diaz admitted to agents he facilitated the unaccompanied child’s entry and expected her to stay at his residence. He was arrested on May 19, 2025.”
“There have been countless other horror stories about the mistreatment and abuse of children our agents have uncovered during these welfare checks,” she continued. “Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and [HHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families.”
Currently under the Trump administration, zero illegal immigrants were released from the southern border into the U.S. in May. Activity along the U.S.-Mexico has fallen to historic lows, with only 6,070 encounters being documented in June 2025.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the comment from Assistant Secretary McLaughlin.
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