The Trump administration says its push to locate missing migrant children is producing results, with more than 127,000 minors now found after being lost under the Biden administration.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the figures Monday on Fox & Friends, emphasizing both the scale and urgency of the effort.
“The best thing for this holiday season is that we have found over 127,000… of the almost half-million children Biden facilitated coming into this country and getting trafficked. We’re finding them, and we’re returning them back to their families and bringing them to safety,” Noem said.
Noem credited the Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security with policies aimed squarely at public safety. “That’s why I love this job, because I get the chance to get up every day and do something that matters,” she said.
The nearly 500,000 figure Noem referenced appears to reflect previously reported government estimates showing more than 448,000 unaccompanied minors entered the United States and were released to sponsors between 2019 and 2023, rather than a formal tally of children confirmed missing or trafficked.
A report from the Homeland Security Inspector General’s office found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement lacked reliable data to consistently track the location and status of many unaccompanied children after their release.
The failures were bureaucratic but consequential: missing notices to appear in immigration court, gaps in follow-up communication, and fractured coordination between federal agencies.
The same report noted that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for immigration court hearings between 2019 and 2023.
It is not an abstraction. It is paperwork that didn’t arrive, systems that didn’t speak, and children who slipped into the margins — where government is weakest, and consequences are strongest.
Watch the clip below:
Noem: "We have found over 127,000 children that the Biden administration lost. 127,000 of the almost half million children that Biden facilitated coming into this country and getting trafficked." pic.twitter.com/cjaykYH4lx
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) December 22, 2025
