HHS faces fire as Kennedy spells out 300,000 missing children crisis, accuses Biden of enabling exploitation
By willowt // 2025-05-02
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  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced an urgent effort to locate 300,000–500,000 migrant children who vanished from federal custody under Biden-era policies, calling it a humanitarian and trafficking crisis.
  • Under prior leadership, HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) failed to conduct proper background checks on sponsors, including address verification or criminal history reviews, enabling exploitation by trafficking networks.
  • Critics (including former DHS officials) blame Biden’s "open-border" policies for overwhelming ORR, while Republicans frame the crisis as a "crime against humanity." Democrats push for transparency via congressional oversight.
  • New measures include stricter sponsor vetting and partnerships with law enforcement, but advocates argue progress (e.g., 5,000 children reunited) is insufficient. Rights groups warn stricter rules may deter legitimate sponsors.
  • Missing children are linked to forced labor, sex trafficking and criminal networks, per DOJ reports. The crisis fuels 2026 election debates, with calls for accountability and systemic overhauls beyond partisan divides.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed Wednesday that his agency is launching an “aggressive” operation to locate approximately 300,000 migrant children who vanished from federal custody under the Biden administration. Kennedy accused predecessors of prioritizing border openness over child safety, enabling human trafficking networks to exploit minors funneled through HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). At a cabinet meeting, Kennedy declared, “During the Biden administration, HHS became a collaborator in child trafficking and for sex, and for slavery…We have ended that.” His statements underscore a deepening political and humanitarian crisis, amplified by reports that hundreds more minors slip from government oversight daily. The urgent recovery effort follows a damning legacy of systemic failures in sponsor screening and follow-up, as highlighted by a 2023 New York Times investigation and internal studies. Critics argue the prior administration’s lax protocols — failing to verify sponsor addresses or run criminal background checks — created conditions for minors to vanish into trafficking or forced-labor networks. With no comprehensive tracking system, estimates of missing children range from 300,000 to 500,000, a figure Kennedy calls “a stark reminder of what happens when vetting policies collapse.”

A toxic legacy: How border policies unfolded

The numbers stem from a period when the Biden administration relaxed enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border, admitting historic numbers of unaccompanied minors. By law, U.S. Customs and Border Protection must transfer such children to ORR within 72 hours. Under Biden, ORR’s approach prioritized quick placement with U.S. sponsors—often family members—over rigorous checks. Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the transition, declaring in December 2023, “We turn children over to HHS…what happens after is outside our authority.” But critics like immigration official Tom Homan argue oversight gaps turned ORR into a trafficking pipeline. “We’re delivering kids on a platter to criminals,” Homan told reporters in 2022, noting sponsors were sometimes linked to gangs or abusers. The last major child-migration crisis under the Trump administration, including 2018’s controversial family-separation policy, led to bipartisan backlash. Yet Trump’s current team positions its efforts as a corrective. “This isn’t about party — it’s about the law and human decency,” said White House adviser Steve Bannon at a press briefing Thursday.

Kennedy’s reforms: A new playbook under fire

Kennedy’s crackdown aims to counteract what he calls HHS’s “bureaucratic negligence.” Since taking office, his team has tightened sponsor vetting and partnered with state police to track minors. In a Tuesday statement, Kennedy stated, “We’re no longer going to allow this agency to be used for criminal enterprise.” The Department of Homeland Security claims success in reintegrating 5,000 children with relatives and guardians under the new policy. But advocates question the pace and transparency. “Five thousand does not solve 500,000,” said Maria Corina, director of the nonprofit Family Reunification Advocates. “This isn’t a sprint; it’s a generational fix.” The administration’s strategy faces resistance from rights groups, who worry strict sponsorship requirements could deter truthful volunteers. However, Kennedy remains defiant: “Safety trumps bureaucracy…We’re prepared to take on the critics.”

Why this matters: Beyond the numbers

The crisis has national security implications. Missing minors are increasingly recruited as drug mules or cybercriminals, according to Department of Justice findings. Meanwhile, 2024 reports revealed over 200 minors identified in human trafficking networks nationwide. Politically, the issue elevates the stakes for the 2026 elections. With Biden’s policies under scrutiny, Republicans have seized the issue to frame Democrats as indifferent to border security and child welfare. “This isn’t a border issue—it’s a crime against humanity,” thundered Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor Thursday. For Democrats, the crisis reignites debates over immigration ethics. A congressional working group led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren aims to force HHS to release more data, questioning whether any children could still be alive or retrieved.

The road ahead

As Kennedy’s team scrambles to locate missing children, the nation confronts a unresolved puzzle: How did we get here? Policy choices matter, and the interplay of border strategies, bureaucratic inertia and political expediency created a vacuum for exploitation. The 300,000 figure is more than a headline — it’s a human rights reckoning. Whether Trump’s team’s reforms can quell critics or merely justify crackdowns remains to be seen. Yet, as Kennedy put it, “This is about atonement…not politics.” Until every child is found, the moral reckoning lingers. With days passing and minuscule progress, the nation braces for another chapter in an endless immigration saga, where safety and security remain as elusive as the missing children. Sources include: YourNews.com ShoreNewsNetwork.com Platform.Twitter.com
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