Migrant Child Smuggling Probe

Trump administration officials said they have located 146,000 unaccompanied migrant children who were unaccounted for after entering the United States during the Biden administration, while roughly 300,000 remain unresolved. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche described cases involving labor exploitation, sex trafficking and fraudulent adult sponsors, and said investigators have identified more than 15,000 “super sponsor” cases involving adults who took custody of multiple children. Mullin accused the prior administration of ignoring warnings about abuse and said federal agencies would “move heaven and hell” to find missing children and hold perpetrators accountable. The announcements framed the effort as both a child-protection investigation and a potential prosecution strategy targeting smugglers, traffickers and sponsors who allegedly exploited weaknesses in the migrant-child placement system.