The Trump administration has reportedly located over 13,000 children who entered the United States unaccompanied and illegally before being lost to government tracking systems.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump has arrested more than 400 sponsors of unaccompanied minors for crimes related to mistreatment of the children in their care or for other reasons, a Health and Human Services official told NewsNation.
Over 300,000 unaccompanied minors flooded into the United States under former President Joe Biden and were then lost to government officials, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
The Trump administration has directed U.S. Customs and Border officials to begin asking older unaccompanied minors between the ages of 14 and 17 if they would like to self-deport back to their home countries. If they answer affirmatively, they are turned over to either ICE or HHS to begin deportation proceedings, according to CNN.
The current practice is not new, but an expanded form of what federal agents had been offering unaccompanied minors before. The offer had been limited to self-deporting to either Mexico or Canada before.
“This is a long-standing practice that was used by previous administrations to prioritize getting children back to the safety of a parent or legal guardian in their home country. The policy of offering unaccompanied alien children (UACs) the option to withdraw their application for admission into the U.S. is accredited in the Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022,” a Homeland Security official told CNN.
“The only change pursuant to the Big Beautiful Bill is expanding this option to return home to UACs from additional countries beyond Mexico and Canada,” the official added.
Trump revealed earlier this month that his administration had located 10,000 of the missing, unaccompanied minors.
“Something that you should have that you haven’t reported – as you know, 300,000 children are missing, 300,000 under Biden. We’ve already gotten back 10,000, and we have a lot more planned to get back. We’re getting them back by the thousands,” Trump said on July 11.
.@POTUS: Something you haven't reported — 300,000 migrant children went missing under Biden. We've already gotten back 10,000 — and we have a lot more planned to get back. pic.twitter.com/W6bM7Tfymq
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 11, 2025
Tens of thousands of adult illegal aliens have self-deported since Trump took office in January. The Trump administration has altered the CBP One app, an app designed and put into use under the Biden administration to streamline applications for asylum, to aid aliens looking to self-deport from the United States.
The app has been renamed to the CBP Home app. The Trump administration has offered an enticement to illegal aliens of $1,000 if they agree to self-deport. The app has threatened aliens with fines of up to $1,000-a-day if they refuse.