The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly encountered 448,000 unaccompanied minors between the years 2019 to 2023 who were relocated within the United States. Insiders and whistleblowers under President Joe Biden’s administration have described a disturbing system in which many of these children have been left vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking due to lax border and immigration policies, according to the New York Post.

Children, some younger than five years old, arrived with only phone numbers written on their arms or clothing. Criminal organizations have taken advantage of the situation, using the chaos at the border to traffic children across the country with minimal oversight.

According to The Post, “Much of it was a scam, perpetrated by cartels who saw Biden’s lax border policies — which saw 8 million attempt to cross into the US during his time in office, per official figures — as an opportunity. The smugglers would drop off kids at the border, Customs and Border Protection couldn’t do anything with them, they have to get them to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within 72 hours.”

“Once they get there, non-government contractors [private companies] look at the paperwork and say, ‘This is their sponsor, this is where they are to be delivered,’” Morgan Lerette, a former Blackwater contractor and Army intelligence officer explained.

“But they weren’t confirming that it was a real person, family, or addresses that was given — some addresses were storage units or strip clubs…The officers were literally handing the kids right back off to the other side of the smuggling rings in the US,” he alleged.

In 2024, authorities uncovered another disturbing smuggling operation when Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) dismantled a group trafficking children under the age of five—some of whom had been given melatonin gummies to sedate them—across the border. According to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the smugglers attempted to transport the children from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, to Laredo, Texas, by using genuine birth certificates belonging to U.S. citizen children. After crossing the border, the children were left at stash houses, where they were then moved further into the United States.

“American taxpayers are essentially paying for child sex trafficking,” Lerette said.

“It’s a conveyor belt. It’s all about using private military companies and nonprofits to shift accountability. But DHS owns the entire supply chain, just through contracts,” Lerette said, adding that once they’re out of federal view, the DHS has “plausible deniability” for anything that later happens to them.

Under the Biden administration’s system, sponsors seeking custody of these children could present foreign identification and avoid any type of significant verification process. However, since President Trump returned to office in January, new rules require sponsors to provide U.S. identification or proof of a pending green card, show evidence of income, and submit to fingerprinting and DNA testing if claiming family ties to a child. The new measures under the Trump administration reflect a concern for the well-being of the children, many of whom have been subjected to traumatic abuse.

A March report from the DHS Office of Inspector General found that 233,000 children had been given paperwork by ICE and needed to be located. Many had been released to sponsors without ICE being notified, and thousands had missing, incorrect, or commercial addresses on file. Additionally, 43,000 children failed to appear for scheduled court hearings, and the Department of Health and Human Services estimated it could not reach 85,000 migrant children, according to the New York Times.

Investigations have revealed that many missing children end up in exploitative situations, including forced labor on farms, in factories, and in other industries. Some have been discovered living with unrelated adults or working under dangerous conditions, often compelled to send money back home or repay smugglers. Estimates suggest that a significant portion of unaccompanied minors who enter the country end up working.

Officials, including Tom Homan, the federal “border czar,” have stated that efforts are now finally being made to find these missing children and prevent further exploitation.