By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched an initiative with state and local law enforcement 287(g) partners to locate roughly 450,000 “unaccompanied alien children” (UACs) who were illegally smuggled into the U.S. during the Biden administration and placed with unvetted sponsors.

The new UAC Safety Verification Initiative is focused on protecting UACs from sexual abuse and exploitation through a broader collaboration among 287(g) 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 Department of Homeland Security said.

The UAC Safety Verification Initiative launched in Florida on Nov. 10 and is rolling out in other states and localities nationwide.

So far, the Trump administration has located more than 24,400 UACs through visits and door knocks, DHS said in a Friday news release.

According to federal law, the care of UACs falls under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. For years, under multiple administrations, federal and state investigations have found UACs are being abused through the program, including at ORR-contracted facilities nationwide.

Under the Biden administration, ORR placed UACs with unvetted sponsors, background checks weren’t performed, UACs were released to alleged gang members, human traffickers, non-family members and sent to non-residential addresses, federal inspector general audits and a Florida grand jury found.

Inspector general reports uncovered that ICE officers were “incapable of monitoring” UACs released into the U.S., expressing alarm because “missing children are ‘considered at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.’”

ORR initially lost track of roughly 100,000 children, according to the reports. That number later increased three-fold; UACs were being exploited in child labor situations, federal investigations found, and still are, most recently in Chicago, The Center Square reported.

Texas, California and Florida have historically received the most UACs; the number exponentially increased every year under the Biden administration, The Center Square first reported.

Many sponsors are illegally in the country, a U.S. House Judiciary report found, The Center Square reported.

DHS listed examples of recent ICE arrests of sponsors in multiple states. Each sponsor has been living in the U.S. illegally; many have criminal histories of crimes against children.

Despite their criminal histories, the illegal foreign nationals filled out applications with ORR, were approved as sponsors and took in UACs, authorities found.

In Arizona, ICE arrested a Guinean national who’d been arrested by Arizona law enforcement for felony aggravated assault.

In Florida, ICE arrested Hondurans convicted by Florida authorities of assault and arrested by Florida law enforcement on charges of larceny, fraud, and counterfeiting, and attempted robbery with a weapon. They also arrested a Guatemalan who’d been arrested by Florida law enforcement for felony hit and run and driving without a license.

In Georgia, ICE arrested a Guatemalan sponsor convicted of domestic violence; in Maryland, ICE arrested a Guatemalan who’d been arrested by Maryland law enforcement for rape of a UAC in his care.

In Massachusetts, ICE arrested an Ecuadorian for enticement of a child under 16 and possession of child sexual abuse material; in Michigan, ICE arrested a Salvadoran convicted of drug trafficking.

In Nevada, ICE arrested a Honduran who’d been arrested by Nevada law enforcement for assault; in New Jersey, ICE arrested a Guatemalan wanted for attempted aggravated homicide; in New York, ICE arrested a Venezuelan arrested by New York law enforcement for prostitution, possession of marijuana, and failure to appear.

In North Carolina, ICE arrested a Guatemalan who’d been arrested by North Carolina law enforcement on an attempted murder charge; in Ohio, ICE arrested a Honduran convicted on a felony weapon offense; in Pennsylvania, ICE arrested a Honduran previously deported who illegally reentered and was then arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In Texas, ICE arrested a Guatemalan for human trafficking and statutory rape. The 14-year-old UAC was pregnant with the sponsor’s baby.

Human trafficking of minors in Texas is commonly associated with sedating children with TCH- or melatonin-laced gummies or food to keep them quiet, using U.S. documents to claim UACs are their own, and kidnapping and selling infants, The Center Square reported.

Instead of ending the ORR UAC program plagued with decades of evidence of abuse, Congress allocated billions of dollars to continue funding it, The Center Square reported.