The Biden administration failed to investigate more than 7,300 reports of human trafficking involving child migrants and tens of thousands of other concerning leads, findings from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) show.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is poring over 65,605 backlogged reports from the last administration as part of an interagency probe into cases of unaccompanied migrant kids who may have been abused by sex predators or trafficked by gangs, the New York Post reports.

Since launching the investigation in February, the department has processed 18,868 cases — but still has 1,688 of possibly fraudulent sponsors receiving the kids, 7,346 human trafficking reports and another 46,311 other tips from grantees, staff and unaccompanied minors themselves to vet.

According to the HHS, former President Joe Biden’s administration failed to investigate thousands of reports of human trafficking involving child migrants, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. So far the probe led to 528 investigative leads, 36 prosecutions taken up by US attorneys’ offices, 25 arrest warrants, 11 arrests, seven indictments and three convictions.

„This is a systemic failure of the Biden administration. It is children’s lives put at risk,”

the HHS said.

Senator Chuck Grassley published the HHS statistics in a letter sent to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., asking for “an immediate update on governmentwide efforts to find and rescue children who were placed in harm’s way.”

„My oversight exposed the Biden-Harris administration for placing unaccompanied migrant children with dangerous sponsors and actively obstructing law enforcement and Congress’ efforts to rescue vulnerable kids,” Senator Grassley said in a statement.

HHS data confirmed my ovrsight &revealed Biden-Harris admin IGNORED 65000+ concerning reports abt unaccompanied migrant children incl 7300+ reports of HUMAN TRAFFICKING So far Trump admin has processed 28% of backlog resulting in 528 leads+7 indictments+11 arrests+3 convictions

— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 29, 2025

Internal documents and the investigation by Senator Grassley’s team have now revealed that the HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) often ignored obvious safety risks in order to release migrant children from immigration detention as quickly as possible.

According to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, in May 2024, at least 291,000 migrant children were believed to be under the supervision of their domestic sponsors, while 32,000 were presumed missing after failing to appear at immigration court hearings. Many of them may have fallen into the hands of criminal gangs and human traffickers, and become vulnerable.