HHS Loses Contact with Unaccompanied Children

During his initial years in office, former President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Xavier Becerra, reportedly lost track of nearly half of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) after they were handed over to adult sponsors in the U.S.

According to data gathered by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), the HHS moved swiftly to place these UACs with adult sponsors, most of whom weren’t their biological parents, without conducting follow-ups.

“From January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023, HHS lost contact with 112,872 UACs just 30 days post-release to sponsors and could not ascertain their safety or whereabouts,” noted Colin Farnsworth from CIS.

Public records from HHS reveal that during fiscal years 2021 and 2022, which aligns with the timeframe in the CIS data, HHS transferred around 235,249 UACs to sponsors nationwide. Therefore, referencing CIS’s data from FOIA requests, during the Biden administration’s first two years, HHS couldn’t confirm the safety or location of about half (48%) of the UACs it lost touch with after transferring them to sponsors.

In August, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) unveiled a report indicating that Biden’s HHS was placing over 11,000 UACs in homes with adult sponsors who were neither parents nor relatives and had not undergone proper vetting through fingerprinting or background checks.

Current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed to Congress in May that the Biden administration’s approach to handling UACs was “the greatest facilitator of child abuse” in American history.

“My predecessor prioritized speed over safety by eliminating all identification requirements for sponsors,” Kennedy stated. “Sponsors weren’t required to present valid ID, weren’t fingerprinted, leaving us unaware of any criminal background. Moreover, without DNA testing, claims of familial connections were dubious at best.”