FILE - Unaccompanied minor migrants wait to be transported by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande into the United States from Mexico in La Joya, Texas, April 7, 2021. (REUTERS/Go Nakamura)
Operating under HHS, the team is made up of volunteers from various agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. They work out of what is known as the "war room," in Washington, D.C., officially called the ORR Interagency Crime Coordination Cell.
According to Fabbricatore, many of the minors the team was able to locate were found in deplorable conditions and exploited.
"We found children who have been raped," he said. "We're talking about debt bondage, where children are being made to work off debt, trafficking debt. We're talking about children that were brought into situations and then treated like sexual slaves. You know, where children are in horrific environments, just environments that they should not be in, where the sponsor is a heroin dealer and that child winds up dying of a heroin overdose."
In early 2021, a record number of children started crossing the border faster than HHS could process. Between January 2021 and December 2024, ORR received more than 470,000 referrals of unaccompanied alien children who crossed the border.
According to HHS, many of those children were released to sponsors under very lax vetting policies that failed to ensure child safety or prevent multiple instances of child endangerment, including neglect, labor exploitation, trafficking and sexual and physical abuse.
The new team is data driven, focusing on analyzing records and addresses to track where these minors ultimately ended up.
BIDEN TEAM LEFT THOUSANDS OF MIGRANT KIDS WITH LARGELY UNVETTED SPONSORS, RECORDS REVEAL
Shackled migrants board a transport van after getting off a plane at the Valley International Airport, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025, in Harlingen, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez)
The administration identified approximately 1,700 cases where children under age 12 were placed with unrelated sponsors without evidence of a home study, according to ORR.
Of the backlog, ORR has reviewed about 90%, leaving fewer than 7,000 reports still pending.
When children are located, Fabbricatore said, the goal is to reunite them with their parents if they are in another country and there is no credible fear claim.
"If their parents are in a previous country and there is not a credible fear claim, is it not better for a child to be with their parents or in our foster care system here in the United States?" Fabbricatore said. "I would argue that we shouldn't be putting them in care here in the US when they have families in their country of origin. And if we can prove that they're safer in the country, that they're going back to, that is where they should be with their parents."
Brooke Taylor is a Dallas-based correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). She joined the network in 2024.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/meet-trump-team-tracking-down-thousands-missing-migrant-children