Senator Chuck Grassley is raising the alarm after uncovering that the Biden administration failed to act on more than 65,000 reports involving unaccompanied alien children, including thousands of red flags pointing to human trafficking, abuse, fraud, and exploitation.
According to Grassley, the backlog includes over 56,000 general notifications of concern, more than 7,300 suspected trafficking cases, and nearly 1,700 fraud-related leads—none of which received meaningful follow-up during Biden’s presidency. These findings have sparked outrage over what Grassley described as a systemic and dangerous neglect of vulnerable children.
“This is one of the most disturbing failures of government oversight I’ve seen in my entire career,” Grassley said. “Thousands of children may have been handed over to criminals, traffickers, or abusers while the Biden administration looked the other way.”
The reports were compiled by agencies responsible for placing unaccompanied minors with sponsors inside the United States. Under the Biden-era policies, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) allegedly placed many of these children with poorly vetted individuals, with little to no post-placement monitoring. Grassley accused the administration of actively obstructing investigations into these complaints.
Since President Trump returned to office in January 2025, new leadership has started processing the backlog. In just a few months, this renewed effort has already produced over 500 investigative leads, dozens of prosecutions, and at least three convictions—highlighting how serious many of these ignored complaints were.
Grassley is now demanding answers from current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., urging him to provide transparency and a comprehensive update on efforts to locate and protect the children involved in these unresolved cases.
“What happened to these kids is not just a policy failure—it’s a humanitarian crisis,” Grassley said. “We need accountability, and we need it now.”
ORR is digging through nearly 65,000 reports of concern about unaccompanied alien children — most ignored, many dismissed — each one a missed chance to protect a child. This isn’t just paperwork. This is a systemic failure of the Biden administration. It is children’s lives put…
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) April 22, 2025
The senator’s findings have reignited concerns over the Biden administration’s handling of the border and immigration system, particularly its failure to safeguard unaccompanied minors. Lawmakers are now calling for aggressive oversight, and some are pushing for formal investigations into the agencies responsible.
As the backlog of cases is reviewed under Trump’s administration, the focus now shifts to ensuring these vulnerable children are found, protected, and never abandoned by the system again.