Around 1212, a young boy in France encouraged children to follow him to the Holy Land, but none reached their destination. Most abandoned the journey early on, while others faced shipwrecks or ended up in slavery in Tunisia. Fast forward to today, and a similar tale of misguided hope unfolds. The Biden administration’s handling of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) has not only fallen short but has led to greater suffering.
A crucial law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, sparked an influx of UACs. Lora Ries, a former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official, noted that this law sent the message to parents that sending their children alone would lead to immigration benefits. In just a few years, the number of UACs at the border skyrocketed—rising from between 4,800 and 8,200 in the early 2000s to 68,000 by 2014. Under Biden, the situation worsened even further, with millions of inadmissible aliens crossing into the U.S., including 550,000 minors.
Tara Rodas, an expert witness, testified before Congress that “criminal sponsors are defrauding the U.S. government” by exploiting these immigration programs. The path into the U.S. for these children often involved their parents and labor-exploiting employers paying smugglers to bring them to the border. Yet, it was American taxpayers who ended up footing the bill for their entry into the country, placing them under the care of barely vetted adults.
The process that allowed children to be released to adult sponsors was severely flawed. Many sponsors were not even related to the children, and verification of identity was shockingly lax. A report by the HHS inspector general highlighted that, in significant cases, required safety checks were either inadequately performed or completely ignored. “No one knew” if the children were safe or being exploited, as many of the follow-up checks consisted of mere phone calls—if they were done at all.
The repercussions were dire. A third of the cases had identification documents that were hard to read, undermining proper verification. The flow of UACs into the country only escalated, with more than 100,000 apprehended each year from 2021 to 2024.
Under immigration law, UACs should be returned unless granted asylum. But figures show a staggering number—over 291,000 UACs—were released without proper documentation or follow-up. This led to children working in dangerous jobs and enduring significant risks, with some tragically injured or killed.
The Trump administration has now taken steps to rectify the consequences of these policies. They aim to reunite UACs with parents in their home countries and restore order to the immigration system. With stricter identification verification measures in place, the processes have slowed, ensuring the safety of these vulnerable children. Urgent attention must be directed toward reinstating proper safeguards in immigration proceedings…so that such failures do not happen again.
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