EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration is touting its success in halting the flow of unaccompanied minors into the United States, following scrutiny of the phenomenon under the Biden administration.
In a Department of Homeland Security fact sheet exclusively shared with the Washington Examiner, the agency said it accomplished a record low number of encounters with Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) coming over the border. The trend of UACs was concerning due to the danger of their abuse and exploitation by cartels.
According to the statistics, in March 2025, U.S. Border Patrol encountered just 631 UACs, compared to 18,716 in March 2021. This represents a 97% decrease from the equivalent period during former President Joe Biden’s tenure. The average number of monthly UAC encounters under Biden was 11,132, compared to less than 700 under Trump.
The total number of encounters of illegal immigrants in March was lower than Biden’s UAC encounter average, at just 7,181. This represents the lowest number on record.
The DHS also worked to solve the problem of the large number of UACs still in U.S. custody.
According to the DHS, Border Patrol encountered 473,145 UACs at the southwest border during the Biden administration, a number far exceeding that of any other administration. The handling of these children earned further criticism — a report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General found that over 300,000 migrant children under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement effectively disappeared from official radar.
A February 2024 audit by the HHS OIG found a lack of proper precautions when turning UACs over to sponsors. It found that the case files of 16% of children placed with sponsors lacked proof that sponsors underwent safety checks and 19% of children were released to adults before FBI fingerprint and state child abuse registries shared results with the government about the sponsors.
SENATE INVESTIGATION INTO UNACCOMPANIED CHILD SMUGGLING FINDS MAJOR ‘FAILURES’ UNDER BIDEN
After former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra loosened vetting requirements for sponsors, the Trump administration tightened the ORR approach to sponsors on Feb. 17. The new administration’s policies closed vetting loopholes, required background checks and fingerprints for all household adults, and only accepted proper identification documents presented in person.
The DHS also touted the work of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to put UACs in safe care. In 70 days, the agency said it reunited nearly 5000 UACs with a guardian or safe relative.
