Higgins Opens Hearing on Biden Administration’s Failure to Protect Vulnerable Unaccompanied Migrant Children

WASHINGTON—Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement Chairman Clay Higgins (R-La.) today delivered opening remarks at a hearing on “Catch and Release, Lose and Forget: Addressing the Crisis of Unaccompanied Alien Children – Part I.” In his remarks, Subcommittee Chairman Higgins emphasized that the Biden Border Crisis has enabled the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable unaccompanied alien children. He cited a report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of the Inspector General, which found that DHS and the Department of Health and Human Services failed to properly safeguard these children. He commended the Trump Administration for accepting the Inspector General’s recommendations and urged immediate action to protect unaccompanied minors.

Below are Subcommittee Chairman Higgins’ prepared remarks.

Today, the Subcommittee convenes to hear from the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security regarding his office’s alarming report detailing the Department’s – and the Department of Health and Human Services – failures to properly track, process, and safeguard nearly 448,000 unaccompanied alien children who entered the United States illegally over the last four years.

The Biden administration’s open border policies led to severe ramifications, in which unaccompanied alien children were destined to be trafficked and exploited.

President Trump has taken decisive action to close our southern border, virtually eliminating the flood of illegal immigrants entering our country. The executive has taken action and now it is up to us, sitting Members of Congress, to conduct essential oversight and codify security of our border that cannot be exploited by future administrations.

The failures of the previous administration led to unaccompanied children who have been lost in a system that was established to protect THEM and protect US.

I’ve been meeting with Inspector General Cuffari for years, and I have always been incensed at the failings of the prior Administration to track and properly process these tender-age illegal unaccompanied minors.

The findings are a double-edged sword: while some vulnerable children have likely been trafficked, exploited, and subject to forced labor, the report also found other older teens that were convicted criminals and gang members.

While the hard-working men and women of ICE may want to do their best, the sheer volume of cases enabled the prior Administration’s open border policies and overwhelmed the entire system.

The IG report states that, as of September 2024, ICE has just over one thousand staff to monitor over 7.5 million non-detained cases. It is literally impossible for ICE with 1,000 staff to personally interact with these millions of tender-age illegal unaccompanied minors.

The IG shared with my staff that almost 300,000 kids have unserved notices to appear for their court dates. Of that number, 58,000 children are under the age of 12. We have NO IDEA where they are.

I am glad that ICE under President Trump has accepted all of the IG’s recommendations contained in the report. I look forward to Inspector General Cuffari’s testimony as we continue to examine this issue and ensure these children are properly identified, cared for, and protected.