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Fox News got exclusive access to the team responsible for locating the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who crossed the border and disappeared into the system under the Biden administration.
Under the Trump administration, 22,638 unaccompanied children have been located so far, and more than 400 sponsors have been arrested. 27 of the minors were found dead, either by murder, suicide or drug overdose, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“It’s important that we find these cases where children are being used for labor and sexually trafficked,” John Fabbricatore, HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement senior advisor, said.
The team was assembled in March to fulfill one of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises. He tasked 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 exploitation, trafficking and harsh working conditions.
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Operating under HHS, the team is made up of volunteers from various agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. They work out of what is known as the “war room,” in Washington, D.C., officially called the ORR Interagency Crime Coordination Cell.
According to Fabbricatore, many of the minors the team was able to locate were found in deplorable conditions and exploited.
“We found children who have been raped,” he said. “We’re talking about debt bondage, where children are being made to work off debt, trafficking debt. We’re talking about children that were brought into situations and then treated like sexual slaves. You know, where children are in horrific environments, just environments that they should not be in, where the sponsor is a heroin dealer and that child winds up dying of a heroin overdose.”
In early 2021, a record number of children started crossing the border faster than HHS could process. Between January 2021 and December 2024, ORR received more than 470,000 referrals of unaccompanied alien children who crossed the border.
According to HHS, many of those children were released to sponsors under very lax vetting policies that failed to ensure child safety or prevent multiple instances of child endangerment, including neglect, labor exploitation, trafficking and sexual and physical abuse.
The new team is data driven, focusing on analyzing records and addresses to track where these minors ultimately ended up.
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“There wasn’t very good recordkeeping” under the Biden administration, Fabbricatore said. “It’s drawing that data back in, being able to identify addresses, where these children went, who these sponsors actually were. In many cases, that data is, is horrible. What the Biden administration was taking in and putting into our computer systems was not the right information. So now we have to draw that all back in and deeply investigate into where some of these children went.”
According to Fabbricatore, the most concerning lapse in screening was the failure to conduct DNA tests to confirm that children were being released to their actual family members.
The Trump administration took steps to improve the vetting process for children who arrive in the U.S. alone, ensuring that sponsors – usually parents or guardians – are properly screened. These measures include requiring DNA testing, proof of income to demonstrate the ability to care for the child, criminal background checks, fingerprinting and identification verification.
“So now, under this administration, we are making sure that we know there’s a real familial connection through DNA, and we are not releasing these children unless we have the right information,” Fabbricatore said. “Children are staying in custody longer, but there’s a reason for that, because we want to ensure that these children remain safe.
When the Trump administration took office, there was a backlog of over 65,000 unaddressed post-release reports, called Notifications of Concern, according to ORR. These internal reports relate to unaccompanied alien children and include allegations ranging from administrative issues to potential trafficking and criminal exploitation.
The administration identified approximately 1,700 cases where children under age 12 were placed with unrelated sponsors without evidence of a home study, according to ORR.
Of the backlog, ORR has reviewed about 90%, leaving fewer than 7,000 reports still pending.
When children are located, Fabbricatore said, the goal is to reunite them with their parents if they are in another country and there is no credible fear claim.
“If their parents are in a previous country and there is not a credible fear claim, is it not better for a child to be with their parents or in our foster care system here in the United States?” Fabbricatore said. “I would argue that we shouldn’t be putting them in care here in the US when they have families in their country of origin. And if we can prove that they’re safer in the country, that they’re going back to, that is where they should be with their parents.”
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