The Biden administration approved more than 99% of sponsor applications for unaccompanied migrant children in fiscal year 2024, according to a newly obtained internal memo.
The Department of Health and Human Services processed nearly half a million migrant kids between 2021 and 2024, placing them with sponsors through the Office of Refugee Resettlement. By President Biden’s final year in office, virtually none of those household applications were denied.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Blasted the prior administration in a statement. “The Biden Administration failed in its most basic responsibility: protecting vulnerable children in federal care,” he said. “It weakened safeguards and prioritized speed over scrutiny, leaving children exposed to fraud, exploitation, and abuse. Under President Trump, HHS is restoring rigorous oversight, verifying who takes custody of these children, and putting their safety first. We will hold this system accountable and never sacrifice a child’s safety for bureaucratic convenience.”
The memo, obtained by The Post, detailed how a “period from 2022 to 2024, less stringent policies allowed for potential and actual sponsors to exploit gaps in the ORR sponsor vetting process.” Fake sponsors used false IDs, manipulated photos, provided unverifiable addresses, committed fingerprint fraud, and misrepresented household members or the ages of children in their care.
Between October 1, 2023, and October 31, 2024, roughly 85% of sponsorship applicants were found to be engaged in “intentional document fraud” when HHS’ Office of General Counsel reviewed nearly 1,700 Child Level Events in that timeframe.
“ORR’s tracking of fraud trends shows that the average rate of intentional document or information fraud, regardless of the number of children assisted per month, remains at approximately 77% of reported Child Level Events (CLE),” the memo stated.
One case involved a 15-year-old girl released to her alleged biological brother in fall 2023. The purported sponsor turned out to be unrelated and allegedly raped and impregnated her. “The sponsor has been charged by the state, and the case is under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice. Prior to sponsoring the 15-year-old female, the purported sponsor had sponsored three [unaccompanied migrant children],” according to the ORR memo.
In October 2024, a 17-year-old migrant male released to an alleged stepsister was “found dead in the back seat of a car, with his genitalia exposed, along with an unconscious 30-year-old male,” per the memo.
Another teenage male migrant died in August 2024 after being released to a mother with gang tattoos. The boy “died after having been given seven marijuana joints by unrelated adult men.”
A February 2025 incident involved a nine-year-old migrant girl nearly placed in the same room as her abusive 13-year-old brother before ORR staff intervened. During a later home visit, “there were multiple unknown individuals … one of the rooms had a strong odor of marijuana and another room of feces, and … glass shards were lying on the floor under a broken window,” the memo stated. “Despite these warning signs, ORR approved the UAC to be released to the mother’s household. The current status of the UAC is unknown,” it concluded.
Under President Trump, HHS investigators have been examining a backlog of more than 65,000 reports flagging incidents where ORR was tipped off about issues affecting migrant children’s health or well-being. The 2024 memo finding that “ORR denied less than 1% of sponsorship applications” suggests “these individuals were able to sponsor UAC with little deterrence.”
The HHS investigation follows a 2024 report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, which lost contact with 291,000 migrant children presumed to be in the custody of domestic sponsors. Another 32,000 were believed to be missing after failing to show up for immigration court hearings, that report found.
HHS investigators are continuing to review the backlog of flagged incidents as the Trump administration implements stricter vetting procedures.