Photo Credit: Tom Homan – X
President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming border czar said he would prioritize locating or rescuing 300,000 unaccounted-for children who entered the United States as illegal immigrants and are at risk of exploitation.
“The third rail is we got over 300,000 missing children,” Tom Homan told Fox News on Monday, likely referring to a government report issued earlier this year. “Over half a million children have been trafficked into the United States. This administration released them to unvetted sponsors, and they can’t find 300,000. And based on three-and-a-half decades, some of these children are in forced labor.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) inspector general released a report finding that 323,000 illegal immigrant children are unaccounted for inside the United States. As of May 2024, more than 32,000 children who were served notices to appear in court did not appear, while the safety of an additional 291,000 could not be verified because they were not placed into removal proceedings, making monitoring their status challenging, according to the report.
Those figures came from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and covered the period from October 2018 to September 2023
“We already found some in forced labor, some of them are in for sex trafficking, some of them are with pedophiles,” Homan said. “We need to save these children. That’s going to be the third rail.”
The DHS report noted that ICE, which Homan had overseen under the first Trump administration, should “take immediate action” to ensure those unaccounted-for children are safe.
Two other priorities, or “rails,” Homan said, are to secure the U.S.–Mexico border as well as deport illegal aliens who are criminals and “national security threats” still residing in the United States.
Both Homan and Trump have said they will initiate a wide-ranging mass deportation plan after the president-elect takes office on Jan. 20, 2025. Trump said on Monday he would be prepared to declare a national emergency to move things forward.
Some pro-immigration groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have said they are opposed to Trump’s deportation proposals, while the ACLU has signaled it will file lawsuits to block such plans from being initiated.
On Monday, the ACLU said it sued ICE to seek records on how “privately chartered deportation flights run by ICE … could be expanded to carry out a mass deportation and detention program.”
What DHS Report Says
The DHS inspector general said in the August report that unaccounted-for children who don’t show up for immigration court dates can be “considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.”
The office faulted ICE for failing to consistently “monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children” once they are released from federal government custody.
During the period from October 2018 to September 2023, 448,820 unaccompanied children were released by ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The U.S. government defines an unaccompanied migrant child as someone under 18 who lacks lawful immigration status and has no parent or guardian in the country to take custody of them. When they’re apprehended by DHS, they’re transferred to the HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.
ICE and the Department of Justice may initiate removal proceedings. However, some children are able to stay in the United States legally if they qualify for asylum, special visas for victims of abuse, trafficking, and other crimes, or other types of immigration relief. In those cases, removal proceedings may never start.
By some estimates, there are around 11 million illegal immigrants who currently live in the United States, some being able to do so under temporary protected status orders issued by DHS.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter who covers a range of topics, including politics, the U.S., and health news. A father of two, Jack grew up in California’s Central Valley. Follow him on X.
Reprinted with permission from The Epoch Times – By Jack Phillips
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
The fact that our still-current “leadership”, through its’ policy of uncontrolled, illegal immigration, allowed hundreds of thousands of children to be put at risk of exploitation and murder, is simply unbelievable. NEVER AGAIN. We must NEVER elect and empower “democrats”, who actually work to undermine democracy and the rights of innocent people, EVER again.
This administration led the largest human trafficking operation. People need to be held accountable for this.
Remember when the Democrats and the media went on a rampage when Trump separated about 4K children. It was all over the news. Biden loses over 300,000 and nothing is said.
If they have no one here in the US, then WHY were they not sent home? There shouldn’t even be an “Office of Resettlement.” Send them back to their country of origin and let THAT country find their parents or resettle them! If this happens often enough, parents will STOP sending their children to the US. Allowing them to stay guarantees yet another group of DACA dreamers.
How many murderers, rapists, and common criminals have entered the country… 100,000… 200,000… 1 million? They don’t GAS about this, you think Democrats care about 300,000 children? Like victims the created, we’re just “expendable losses” to the left!
Should Harris not bear even a tiniest responsibility? Her policies allowed them in along with the rest oh the hoard.
“Some pro-immigration groups and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have said they are opposed to Trump’s deportation proposals, while the ACLU has signaled it will file lawsuits to block such plans from being initiated.
Careless asshats, find a way to end their presence. Funding, criminal behavior, anti-Americanism, etc.
The demonic rats know exactly what happened to all those children. Can’t you see that they are the most evil group of people in this country? This is part of their demonic plan. I think we will all be surprised when they stand before the great white throne of judgement. I know I’ve committed sin in my life and I will have to answer for it when the time comes, but the evil that I’ve seen coming from the demonic rat party has made my heart sick. Imagine the evil that they’ve created that hasn’t been brought out into the light yet. God knows our hearts. He knows what we are thinking before we even act. Honestly, I feel bad for their souls.
They have been saying there are 11 million illegals in the USA since 2005 at least… I think there’s probably a lot MORE now… But, I hope they can find and help all these missing children that the Democrats have neglected and abused… They deserve a good home and some decent parents…
Of course these government agencies will fight Trump’s attempts to right this wrong;. They are, after all, pretty much run by Democrats. I just got a solicitation from the ACLU for donations. I threw it in the trash. They need to worry about the civil liberties of these missing children and not about fighting Trump. The ACLU has become just another government run agency, not independent, as they should be. Just another bogus puppet agency.
The government employees who facilitated the loss of 323,000 children should go to prison.