A new lawsuit seeks to uncover what exactly happened to the thousands of migrant children who went missing or were otherwise placed in poorly-vetted homes across the country during the Biden administration’s U.S-Mexico border crisis.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA), a national security watchdog, is demanding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finally comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it lodged against the Biden administration months ago, according to court documents exclusively shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The lawsuit comes as the Trump White House has taken great strides in correcting the illegal immigration crisis that emerged under the Biden administration.
“Given whistleblower allegations that the Biden administration lost at least 85,000 unaccompanied alien children who were given to poorly vetted sponsors, the American public is rightly concerned about the children’s safety and the various contractors involved in administering their placement,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick said to the DCNF.
“This lawsuit will bring transparency to the shrouded Biden ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] award process, the many contractors and grantees involved, and the billions of taxpayer dollars spent,” Fitzpatrick continued.
The Biden administration oversaw the worst humanitarian crisis at the southern border in U.S. history, with fiscal years 2023 and 2024 being the highest and second highest, respectively, of recorded migrant encounters, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Roughly 8.5 million migrant encounters were recorded along the U.S.-Mexico border during the four fiscal years of the Biden administration, and a New York Times investigation determined net migration into the U.S. during this time to be the largest in the country’s history.
Among this wave was an enormous number of unaccompanied minors — migrant children who arrived at the border with no parent or legal guardian present. Well over half a million unaccompanied minors were encountered by Border Patrol agents and other immigration officials at ports of entry during fiscal years 2021 to 2024, according to (CBP) data.
Unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who are found by Department of Homeland Security officials at the border are typically placed into the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), an office within HHS. This office works with third-party contractors to help place UAC with sponsors across the country, whether they be family members or others well-equipped to care for them.
However, ORR officials may have not conducted the best oversight amid the unprecedented immigration crisis that pushed government resources to the brink. An explosive report in February 2023 found that the office lost track of more than 85,000 unaccompanied children after they were placed into the care of U.S.-based sponsors, and a subsequent inspector general report in August 2024 confirmed that DHS officials are unable to consistently monitor the status of those who’ve left their custody.
Senate Republicans and others have since accused the Biden administration of obstructing efforts to investigate the matter.
The devastating impact for migrant children lost throughout the country could be enormous. Children who are lost are at risk of sexual exploitation, child labor and other abuses, whistle blowers warn.
“My office is working diligently with whistleblowers to identify as many missing children as possible, in hopes they can be found and saved,” Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley said in early 2024. “It is our moral duty to do all we can to rescue children who may have endured sexual abuse or forced labor.”
Seeking answers, CASA lodged a FOIA request to HHS in in July 2024 requesting: “All ORR contracts with any organization who provides services related to placing unaccompanied migrant children with sponsors or sponsor families,” “All proposals for ORR contracts from any organization who provides services related to
placing unaccompanied migrant children with sponsors or sponsor families” and “All proposals and contracts from ‘Cherokee Federal.’”
Roughly 240 days later, CASA says HHS has yet to answer or provide any update on the request — leading the group to resort to a lawsuit. The group has initiated a number of FOIA requests over the years seeking government transparency and accountability.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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