WASHINGTON (TND) — Whistleblowers have raised serious concerns about the Department of Health and Human Services and the Unaccompanied Children Program. They claim that the department has lost track of thousands of migrant children, some of whom have been trafficked, abused and forced to work.

According to a report by the New York Times, 85,000 migrant children placed with sponsors in the U.S. are unaccounted for. The whistleblowers alleged that the DHS Office of Refugee Resettlement failed to follow up with the sponsors of these children.

DHS guidelines mandate that ORR conduct safety and well-being follow-up calls 30 to 37 days after the child is placed with a sponsor. However, in 2021, ORR failed to document or make these calls in 40% of the cases reviewed by the Office of Inspector General.

The Unaccompanied Children Program was established in 2003 following the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which transferred the care of these minors to ORR from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Biden administration changed the vetting rules for sponsors in March 2021 to expedite the release of migrant children from government custody.

However, this move has been criticized for allegedly loosening background check rules and putting children in danger.

Current vetting processes require sponsors to undergo background checks, criminal record checks and, in most cases, a sex offender registry check. Despite these requirements, the OIG found that 16% of sponsor safety...

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