Trump Admin Locates 13,000 Missing Migrant Children, Arrests Hundreds of Sponsors
The Trump administration has reportedly located over 13,000 unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. illegally and were lost under the prior administration’s care, marking a dramatic turnaround in immigration enforcement and child safety oversight.
According to a Health and Human Services official who spoke to NewsNation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested more than 400 individuals who served as sponsors for unaccompanied minors. Many of those arrests were tied to allegations of child mistreatment, human trafficking concerns, or other criminal activity.
The effort comes in response to revelations that under former President Joe Biden, over 300,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the southern border and were subsequently lost in the system, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
President Donald Trump addressed the issue during a recent appearance, noting that 10,000 of the missing children had already been recovered by his administration. “We’re getting them back by the thousands,” Trump said on July 11. “Something that hasn’t been reported: 300,000 children are missing under Biden. We’ve already gotten back 10,000 — and we have a lot more planned to get back.”
The administration is also expanding its use of voluntary repatriation programs for minors aged 14 to 17, giving older unaccompanied minors the option to return to their home countries. Until now, that offer had been extended mostly to minors from Mexico and Canada. Under the new directive, minors from additional countries can now choose to withdraw their application and be repatriated.
“This is a long-standing practice that was used by previous administrations to prioritize getting children back to the safety of a parent or legal guardian in their home country,” a Homeland Security official told CNN. “The only change pursuant to the Big Beautiful Bill is expanding this option to return home to UACs from additional countries beyond Mexico and Canada.”
In another major policy shift, the Trump administration has repurposed the CBP One app — originally developed under Biden to streamline asylum processing — into a self-deportation tool renamed the CBP Home app. Under the updated program, illegal aliens are offered $1,000 in financial assistance to voluntarily depart the country. If they refuse, the app warns of daily fines of up to $1,000.
The administration said tens of thousands of illegal aliens have already self-deported since January. Officials see the voluntary departure incentive — combined with daily financial penalties — as a humane yet firm way to reduce the backlog in immigration courts and encourage those unlawfully present to exit without the need for formal proceedings.
This push comes as part of Trump’s broader immigration enforcement strategy laid out in the Big Beautiful Bill, which includes mass deportations, the hiring of thousands of new ICE officers, and cutting federal funding to sanctuary cities. The program also targets child trafficking networks that exploited the lax immigration enforcement under Biden, pairing child recovery operations with criminal prosecutions.
The location of 13,000 missing minors is a major milestone in that effort. For many Americans concerned about the fate of children trafficked or smuggled across the southern border, the Trump administration’s latest actions signal a return to accountability, border integrity, and a renewed focus on protecting vulnerable minors.