(NewsNation) — While illegal crossings at the southern border are down, the Biden administration continues to struggle with thousands of unaccompanied minors reaching the U.S. every month, with many of those children being labor trafficked inside the U.S.
In the 2023 fiscal year, U.S. Border Patrol agents are on pace to encounter nearly 100,000 unaccompanied minors at the southern border. Last month, over 7,000 unaccompanied minors were encountered at the border.
Currently, there are 6,632 unaccompanied children in the custody of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
Del Rio Sector agents in Texas apprehended two unaccompanied children reportedly abandoned by smugglers on the riverbank near Eagle Pass on Tuesday, NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley reported.
“These children made the dangerous trek to the United States and thankfully our agents were there to bring them to safety,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent for U.S. Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector Juan G. Bernal said.
Unaccompanied minors are often abandoned at the southern border by human smugglers or at times their parents send the children alone knowing that unaccompanied minors will be allowed into the country.
Earlier this year, NewsNation was on the ground with agents when they encountered a four-year-old boy from Honduras who had been abandoned by his mother.
The boy wore a makeshift ID with a Louisiana address on it. He was traveling with a group of Chinese nationals who had crossed into Texas illegally when agents intercepted them.
Over the past two years, more than 250,000 unaccompanied minors entered the U.S.
Migrants under 18 years old who reach the U.S. border are processed under HHS and must be transferred into the custody of an approved sponsor. Most of the time, that sponsor is a family member — but that’s not always the case.
In the calendar year of 2021, the federal government released 16,456 unaccompanied minors to distant relatives or nonfamily sponsors.
In the following calendar year of 2022, a little over 18,000 unaccompanied minors were released to nonfamily sponsors. These numbers raise questions from advocates who worry unaccompanied minors are being released to strangers and then are labor trafficked.
Earlier this year, a labor department investigation discovered that more than 100 children, many of them unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, were employed at a midwestern slaughterhouse.
Federal officials came under scrutiny in March 2021 when it loosened its vetting restrictions for sponsors and urged expedited placement for unaccompanied minors.
An audit by the HHS revealed that the Biden administration released 344 unaccompanied migrant children to live with nonfamily sponsors hosting three or more unaccompanied children. Advocates said that’s a red flag for child trafficking.
A New York Times investigation published in April revealed thousands of migrant children were being labor trafficked inside the United States. The investigation also revealed more than 85,000 children released inside the U.S. could not be reached by the HHS for their routine follow-up a month after living with their sponsor.
Later this summer, the Biden administration will house up to 800 migrants in a repurposed boarding school.
Devan Markham contributed to this report.