Exclusive | Trump admin launches probe into extremely lax HHS vetting for migrant kids that left thousands vulnerable to sex trafficking and exploitation

The Department of Health and Human Services is launching an investigation into thousands of cases of unaccompanied migrant children who may have ended up in the hands of sexual predators and human traffickers because of lax vetting policies under the Biden administration.An internal memo viewed by The Post details how the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) ignored obvious safety risks and prioritized quickly releasing the youths under the Unaccompanied Children Program (UAC), creating a situation that made vulnerable kids easy targets.The report details egregious cases where migrant sponsors provided images that were obviously fake or doctored in their applications to obtain custody of children — and were seldom challenged by government staff tasked with protecting kids.One photo, submitted by a man who wanted custody of a migrant child, showed the child’s mother crudely photoshopped into the image to claim he had a relationship with her.The mother’s feet were clipped off in the botched clip-art job.In another case, a man used a Guatemalan photo ID that clearly was not him.Another incident had a 23-year-old migrant who claimed he was a minor being held in a federal facility with migrant children.

The man was documented reportedly asking kids “You want to have sex?”“It was all about getting them out of custody as quickly as possible from the time the Border Patrol encountered them, to the time ORR found sponsorship,” a senior HHS source told The Post.“When they were putting expediency over safety, that’s what created this problem.”The investigation by the HHS Office of the General Counsel found “significant issues” in vetting sponsors, which enabled children to be placed in “overcrowded or unsafe living conditions” or with adults “extorting or exploiting children.”Data revealed that less than 1% of sponsorship applications were denied in recent years, showcasing major gaps in oversight of the program.Despite investigators briefing ...