DHS sets up task force to find 450,000 missing migrant children

A senior U.S. Homeland Security official has told a congressional hearing that 450,000 migrant children were missing when the current administration took over, and that the department is standing up a larger task force to track them all down. According to the testimony, around 50,000 of the children had been handed to sponsors who were not properly vetted, with no home checks carried out and no one verifying whether the children were where they were supposed to be, or even in the same state. The official said that, so far, 147,000 of the children have been recovered, while noting that not all of them had needed to be located, as some were found with family members and appeared to be doing well. The official described some of the cases uncovered as deeply disturbing and said finding the remaining children is a top priority, with a bigger task force being set up within the Department of Homeland Security for that purpose.

Part of the problem, according to the account given at the hearing, was how some of the children had been placed. The official said that around 50,000 of the children had been handed to sponsors who were not properly vetted, with no home checks carried out and no one going by afterwards to confirm whether the children were where they were supposed to be.

The gaps in oversight, as described, went as far as not knowing whether a child was even in the same state, or whether the sponsor was who they claimed to be. According to the testimony, that lack of verification was at the heart of why so many of the children had effectively lost contact with the authorities meant to keep track of them.

The official also pointed to the progress made so far in locating the children. According to the account, 147,000 of the missing children have been recovered, though the official was careful to note that not all of them had actually needed to be found, as some were located with a family member and appeared to be doing okay when checked on.

At the same time, the official acknowledged that some of the cases uncovered during the searches had been deeply disturbing, and said those findings underlined why the work could not be allowed to slow down. The official described locating the remaining children as a personal priority and a central goal of the department's efforts.

To carry that out, according to the testimony, the Department of Homeland Security is standing up a bigger task force specifically aimed at finding all 450,000 of the children. The figures and the account of the response were given during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers were questioning the department on its operations and priorities.

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