The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced [1] a new nationwide initiative to locate and conduct welfare checks on hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors who crossed the southern border between 2021 and 2025 and were released to sponsors during the Biden-Harris administration.
BREAKING: ICE has launched a massive operation to locate and conduct welfare checks on ~450,000 unaccompanied migrant children released to sponsors under the Biden administration.
Official DHS statements and recent reports confirm many of these children were placed with sponsors…
— Dr. Dawn Michael (@DawnsMission) November 17, 2025 [2]
According to DHS, the program is designed to address safety concerns surrounding the large number of minors released to individuals who were not properly vetted.
The agency said it will partner with state and local authorities to conduct in-person checks to determine the children’s welfare and identify potential cases of abuse or exploitation.
A DHS press release detailed the initiative’s scope. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched an initiative with our state and local law enforcement 287(g) partners aimed at protecting the 450,000 unaccompanied children (UAC) illegally smuggled over the border and placed with unvetted sponsors under the Biden-Harris administration.
“This new law enforcement partnership, known as the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, represents ICE’s commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation through collaboration with 287(g) law enforcement partners.
The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited.
“The Biden administration’s open border policies empowered human and sex traffickers.
The Trump administration is taking a sledgehammer to human trafficking rings and ensuring these children who were smuggled across the border are not being abused.
“Secretary Noem is leading efforts to rescue and stop the exploitation of the 450,000 unaccompanied children the Biden administration lost or placed with unvetted sponsors. Many of the children who came across the border unaccompanied were allowed to be placed with sponsors who were smugglers and sex traffickers. The Trump administration has located more than 24,400 of these children in-person, in the United States, through visits and door knocks,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
“We’ve jump-started our efforts to rescue children who were victims of sex and labor trafficking by working with our state and local law enforcement partners to locate these children. President Trump and Secretary Noem are laser-focused on protecting children and will continue to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to reunite children with their families.”
The initiative launched on November 10 in Florida and is scheduled to expand to additional jurisdictions participating in the 287(g) program.
Concerns about the placement of minors escalated following findings from the DHS Office of Inspector General.
“ICE announcing a brand new operation to conduct welfare checks on the 450,000 children that the Biden Administration placed with unvetted sponsors — some of whom were sex traffickers, gang members, and abusers.” pic.twitter.com/0UqWYO25tT [3]
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 17, 2025 [4]
In August 2024, the office reported that ICE was unable to monitor all unaccompanied minors released from federal custody.
Earlier reporting from 2023 indicated that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lost contact with more than 85,000 minors over a two-year span.
ICE data entered into congressional testimony showed that immigration authorities encountered nearly 530,000 unaccompanied minors at the southern border during the Biden-Harris administration, more than double the number reported during the Obama administration and President Donald Trump’s first term.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa reported that 11,488 minors were placed with sponsors who were neither fingerprinted nor subjected to background checks.
Additional testimony from congressional hearings in 2024 showed that HHS officials instructed the Office of Refugee Resettlement to prioritize “speed rather than safety” when releasing minors.
Witnesses told lawmakers that the agency placed children with sponsors even when there were signs of gang affiliation and said some officials faced retaliation for raising safety concerns.
Lawmakers and federal investigators have said that the placement procedures adopted by the prior administration increased the risk of exploitation.
DHS officials said the new initiative will continue expanding as teams work to locate minors and verify their safety.