Biden’s HHS Lost Nearly Half the Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released to ‘Sponsors’
FY 21 and 22 data obtained by CIS through FOIA
By Colin Farnsworth on November 4, 2025
Data recently obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows that during the first two years of the Biden administration the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lost contact and could not determine the safety status of roughly half (48 percent) of all unaccompanied alien children (UAC) after transferring the children into the custody of a “sponsor”.
Under HHS’ UAC sponsorship program, a “sponsor” could be a close or distant family member of the UAC or may have no family relation at all. The goal of HHS’ UAC sponsorship program was to place unaccompanied alien children who were apprehended by immigration authorities into the homes of sponsors instead of detention facilities while they await immigration proceedings. While the intent of the program may have had good intentions, in 2023, reports emerged that many of the UACs transferred to sponsors ended up being exploited for labor and found themselves in dangerous living and working conditions, and/or victims of an array of human trafficking crimes.
An integral part of assuring the safety of the UAC sponsorship program was HHS’s policy of conducting a “Safety and Well-Being Follow Up Call” with UACs and their sponsors 30 days after the release date. According to HHS’s policy guidelines, the purpose of the Safety and Well-Being Follow Up Call was:
to determine whether the child is still residing with the sponsor, is enrolled in or attending school, is aware of upcoming court dates, and is safe. The care provider must document the outcome of the follow up call in the child’s case file, including if the care provider is unable to contact the sponsor or child after reasonable efforts have been exhausted.
https://cis.org/Farnsworth/Bidens-HHS-Lost-Nearly-Half-Unaccompanied-Migrant-Children-Released-Sponsors
