Trump Admin Claims 62K Children Rescued From Trafficking – Here's the Truth

During a Fox News appearance on December 7, 2025, U.S. "border czar" Tom Homan claimed that the administration of former President Donald Trump had "rescued" more than 62,000 unaccompanied migrant children. This assertion was later repeated by Trump on Truth Social on December 12, 2025. The claim centers around the idea that these children were being trafficked for sex, forced to work, or otherwise subjected to abuse.

Homan's statement was based on the assumption that 300,000 migrant children were "missing" in the first place. However, this figure stems from an August 2024 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that did not actually refer to children as "missing." Instead, the report highlighted that 320,000 children either never received notices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to appear in immigration court or received notices but failed to do so.

The claim that the Trump administration rescued 62,000 migrant children comes from a November 2025 initiative aimed at identifying unaccompanied children and vetting their sponsors for alleged crimes, including sex trafficking and other forms of abuse. A DHS news release about the initiative listed over a dozen arrests but did not detail any specific actions taken to rescue children.

On December 7, 2025, Homan stated during his Fox News appearance:

"President Trump committed on Day One that we would do everything we can to find every one of these children [inaudible]. We know many are in sex trafficking, many are in forced labor, many are being abused. I look at the numbers every day. On Friday I looked at the numbers, there's over 62,000 children found by the Trump administration. Children that weren't even being looked for under the Biden administration. President Trump saved over 62,000 children's lives."

This claim has resurfaced multiple times with varying degrees of accuracy. For instance, in early 2025, a story broke down the claim that Homan said the Trump administration found 75,000 to 80,000 out of 300,000 "missing" migrant children.

There are two key parts to this claim: first, whether more than 300,000 migrant children went missing, and second, whether there is evidence to support the claim that the Trump administration rescued 62,000 children.

Did the DHS Report Say 300,000 Children Were Missing?

The August 2024 report, authored by the DHS Office of Inspector General, did not state that children were "missing" or "lost." Rather, it pointed out that ICE was unable to monitor all unaccompanied migrant children released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) custody. This meant that the immigration enforcement agency did not have the capacity to issue notices to — and keep tabs on — all unaccompanied children DHS released or transferred to HHS.

According to the report, between October 2018 and September 2023 (which includes more than half of Trump's first term), ICE was not able to serve notices to appear in court to more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children. An additional 32,000 children who received notices failed to appear for immigration court hearings. The combined number of alleged missing children, 323,000, aligns with the "more than 300,000 children missing" claim Homan made.

Both Vice President JD Vance and Trump have cited the number stemming from the report, but this is an inaccurate depiction of reality. Jonathan Beier, an associate director with Acacia Center for Justice's unaccompanied children program, told DISCOVERTREND in January 2025 that "Children who were never 'missing' shouldn't be described as having been 'found.'"

Homan himself told The Washington Post in December 2024 that these "missing" children "were probably with their parents or other family members." He acknowledged that many of those young people are probably with their parents or other family members, but he said he wants to mobilize nonprofit groups and private contractors to carry out a more concerted effort to track them down.

Is There Evidence the Trump Administration "Rescued" 62,000 Children?

Unaccompanied migrant children are defined by HHS as being younger than 18, having no lawful immigration status, and having no parent or legal guardian available to provide care in the U.S. The government is legally required to release unaccompanied migrant minors it apprehends into the "least restrictive setting that is in the best interests of the child," which can include "qualified parents, guardians, relatives or other adults, referred to as 'sponsors.'"

On November 10, 2025, ICE — in collaboration with state and local law enforcement authorities — launched an initiative that it said was aimed at protecting unaccompanied migrant children (UACs) who were "illegally smuggled over the border and placed with unvetted sponsors." The official purpose of the initiative, formally called the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, was to "locate and conduct welfare checks" on unaccompanied migrant children. It began in Florida, with plans to expand across the U.S.

ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a November 14 DHS news release on the initiative:

"Secretary [Kristi] Noem is leading efforts to rescue and stop the exploitation of the 450,000 unaccompanied children the Biden administration lost or placed with unvetted sponsors. Many of the children who came across the border unaccompanied were allowed to be placed with sponsors who were smugglers and sex traffickers. The Trump administration has located more than 24,400 of these children in-person, in the United States, through visits and door knocks. We've jumpstarted our efforts to rescue children who were victims of sex and labor trafficking by working with our state and local law enforcement partners to locate these children. President Trump and Secretary Noem are laser-focused on protecting children and will continue to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to reunite children with their families."

The news release ended by listing examples of "ICE administrative immigration arrests based on sponsors' criminal activity" on charges including attempted murder, rape, assault, fraud, counterfeiting, and possession of marijuana. Out of the 16 examples, only one linked to further information about the alleged crime. Others did not specify any names, dates, or any location beyond the state. Therefore, it was impossible for us to independently confirm the veracity of the examples. In several cases, the news release said the sponsor had been convicted, but in most, it mentioned only an arrest — meaning the sponsor had not been found guilty of a crime.

The release said the initiative's focus was to "conduct welfare checks," but it did not give any examples of actions beyond the arrests. We wrote to ICE seeking clarification on whether arresting or detaining sponsors was the only method of protecting unaccompanied migrant children and have not received a response. We will update this story if we do.

In Summary

The claim that the Trump administration rescued more than 62,000 migrant children out of more than 300,000 missing migrant children is an unfounded exaggeration. Homan's claim was based on the assumption that 300,000 migrant children were missing in the first place, which is a misleading assessment of an August 2024 DHS report that found 320,000 children either never received notices from ICE to appear in immigration court, or received notices but failed to appear in court.

His claim that the Trump administration rescued 62,000 migrant children stems from a November 2025 initiative to identify unaccompanied children and vet and arrest their sponsors for alleged crimes, including sex trafficking and other abuse. That release listed more than a dozen instances in which authorities arrested sponsors but gave no further details about "rescuing" unaccompanied migrant children.