The Biden administration approved more than 99% of sponsor applications for unaccompanied migrant children in fiscal year 2024, potentially exposing vulnerable minors to rapists, gang members and murderers amid what investigators described as a “less stringent” vetting process, according to a memo obtained by The Post.
From 2021 through 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services processed nearly 500,000 migrant children placed with sponsors through the Office of Refugee Resettlement. By Biden’s final year in office, however, almost no applications from households seeking custody were being rejected.
One case examined by HHS involved a 15-year-old girl who was released to a man identified as her alleged biological brother. Investigators later determined that the purported sponsor was not related to her. He allegedly raped and impregnated the child in fall 2023.
“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],” the ORR memo stated.
The memo said the approval rate followed a broader period, from 2022 to 2024, when “less stringent policies allowed for potential and actual sponsors to exploit gaps in the ORR sponsor vetting process.”
Since President Trump took office, HHS investigators have been reviewing a backlog of more than 65,000 reports involving potential threats to the health or safety of migrant children. The reports, known as Child Level Events, or CLEs, were submitted after ORR was alerted to alleged problems.
“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 said.
Between Oct. 1, 2023, and Oct. 31, 2024, HHS’s Office of General Counsel reviewed nearly 1,700 CLEs and determined that about 85% of the sponsorship applicants involved had engaged in “intentional document fraud.”
Investigators found that alleged fake sponsors used fraudulent identification, altered photographs, unverifiable addresses and falsified fingerprints. Others misrepresented household members or misstated the ages of migrant children placed in their care.
“The Biden Administration failed in its most basic responsibility: protecting vulnerable children in federal care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
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“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,” Kennedy said.
The memo described several cases in 2024 in which allegedly fraudulent sponsorship arrangements were linked to serious harm involving unaccompanied migrant children.
“ORR denied less than 1% of sponsorship applications, a data point which suggests these individuals were able to sponsor UAC with little deterrence,” the memo stated.
In one case, a 17-year-old migrant boy was released to a sponsor who claimed to be his stepsister. In October 2024, he was “found dead in the back seat of a car, with his genitalia exposed, along with an unconscious 30-year-old male,” according to the memo.
In another case, a teenage migrant boy was placed with a woman who claimed to be his mother but had gang-related tattoos. The boy “died after having been given seven marijuana joints by unrelated adult men” in August 2024, the memo said.
A separate incident in February 2025 involved a 9-year-old migrant girl who was nearly housed in the same room as her allegedly abusive 13-year-old brother. ORR staff intervened before that arrangement continued.
During a later home visit, investigators found “multiple unknown individuals.” The memo also described one room as having a strong marijuana odor and another as smelling of feces, while glass shards were scattered on the floor beneath a broken window.
“Despite these warning signs, ORR approved the UAC to be released to the mother’s household. The current status of the UAC is unknown,” the memo concluded.
The HHS review comes after a 2024 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General found that the agency had lost contact with 291,000 migrant children believed to be living with domestic sponsors.
The watchdog report also found that another 32,000 children were believed to be missing after they failed to appear for immigration court proceedings.
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