The Trump Administration Takes Vital Steps to Save Thousands of Missing Children Lost During Biden’s Open Border Crisis

For four years, the media, former President, and Democrats on Capitol Hill choose to look away as the Department of Health and Human Services lost track of over 300,000 unaccompanied minors across our country. Thankfully, just this past week, under President Trump’s direction the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) proposed eliminating a regulation made under the Biden administration in 2024 that prevented sharing the immigration status of potential sponsors of unaccompanied minors with law enforcement. This development presents an opportunity for the Trump administration to be proactive in securing the southern border and protecting children from the cruelty of human trafficking.  

In July of 2024, the Biden-Harris administration instituted a provision under the Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule that blocked the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and law enforcement from sharing immigration status information of potential sponsors for custody of unaccompanied children.  

This reckless provision, bent on furthering the Biden-Harris administration’s open border policy, endangered countless children and enabled cartels to take advantage of the system to continue their abhorrent human trafficking schemes. Quite literally it allowed the United States government to play an active role in facilitating the abuse of minors who were brought into our country illegally.

Now, the ACF is seeking to make the Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule consistent with governing legislation by eliminating this provision and opening the door for cooperation between ORR and law enforcement. Eliminating this provision will make strides to support law enforcement in securing our borders and will establish a safeguard against human trafficking of children. Now, the federal government will be ensuring that minors are never placed into the hands of lawbreakers aiming to cause further harm to these often severely victimized children.

CPAC supports this common-sense move, and CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking will be submitting comments urging the ACF to move forward with removing the Biden-Harris administration’s irresponsible provision.