The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called out The New York Times on Thursday, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that their recent report on welfare checks for migrant children omitted key details that the agency claims it shared with the outlet.
The NYT released an article on Wednesday stating that the Trump administration’s wellness checks on migrant children allegedly have “stirred” anxiety among migrants and others connected to the children. However, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin accused the outlet of neglecting key details in their report.
“This ‘reporting’ by The New York Times was meant to manufacture fear. The truth is our officers are conducting these welfare checks because the previous Administration allowed children to be smuggled, sex trafficked and exploited. Why won’t the New York Times focus on these children and tell their stories of horrific abuse and mistreatment?” McLaughlin asked.
With the Trump administration now cracking down on illegal criminal migrants and the migrant children that had been placed throughout the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration, DHS is making efforts to secure the children who have been exploited. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: The Border Is Quiet, But Sex Traffickers Are Thriving — And One Group Is Fighting To Stop Them)
Giving the DCNF examples of who the department has found so far to be sponsoring or handling migrant children in the U.S., DHS claims that the NYT had been given the same information prior to their piece being published but neglected to include the criminals’ full background.
In response to the DCNF’s request for comment about the information provided by DHS, a spokesperson for the Times said the outlet had “reflected” the agency’s response.
“We appreciated that DHS responded to our questions and we reflected the agency’s response in our original reporting,” the Times spokesperson said.
DHS confirmed the arrest of Adelso Garcia Martinez by Homeland Security Investigations on May 13. According to officials, Martinez had been a wanted fugitive in Guatemala for attempted aggravated homicide, which was issued as a warrant in February 2021.
Despite the warrant being pushed three months prior to Martinez’s entrance into the U.S., he had been approved under Biden’s administration to be a sponsor of an unaccompanied 14-year-old family member in 2023.
Adelso GARCIA MARTINEZ, arrested by HSI [Photo Courtesy Of DHS]
In addition to Martinez, DHS confirmed the arrest of Luis Alonso Argueta Diaz by officials after a welfare check on May 19. During the check, an unaccompanied child told agents that her sponsor, Diaz, had allegedly been paid $20,000 to arrange for her to be smuggled into the country and transported to Virginia.
Diaz later confirmed to officials that he had facilitated the unaccompanied migrant’s entry, expecting her to stay at his residence, according to DHS.
Luis Alonso Argueta Diaz arrested by officials [Photo Courtesy Of DHS]
Under the Biden-Harris administration, the border crisis hit all-time high records of encounters, averaging about 2.4 million from 2021 to 2023 and surpassing over 8 million in total throughout former President Joe Biden’s time in office. In addition to a rise in border encounters, Biden’s four years also saw a spike among migrant children, specifically unaccompanied children, hitting an estimated 122,731 referrals within the 2021 fiscal year.
“Many of the unaccompanied children who came across the border are victims of smugglers and sex traffickers. DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure they are safe and not being exploited. There have been countless horror stories about the mistreatment and abuse of children our agents have uncovered during these welfare checks,” McLaughlin told the DCNF.
“Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families,” McLaughlin added.
During Biden’s administration, concerns over migrant children began after whistleblowers and experts publicly spoke to lawmakers, revealing that they believed over 300,000 migrant children had gone missing, with a majority ending up in human and sex trafficking. The issue that many saw with the migrant children entering into the U.S. stemmed from a handful of Biden’s policy changes regarding migrant children found at the border.
Among the most crucial policies Biden had scrapped from President Donald Trump’s first term had been the DNA collection program used to verify the identities of migrants as well as waiving background checks for specific household members in order to expedite the placement of migrant children with sponsors.
“Any exploitation of children is horrific. The men and women of CBP work diligently everyday to keep children out of the hands of human traffickers and other predators. DNA testing is just one tool in our arsenal. Unfortunately, the Biden administration shut down the familial DNA testing programs,” a senior DHS official told the DCNF.
“Under the Trump administration, DHS, to include CBP are reinstituting the effective DNA testing programs to keep children safe. DHS will continue to expand the use of DNA testing, along with many other investigative tools to ensure that our borders are secure and that all human trafficking is annihilated,” the senior official added.
The NYT in 2023 reported on the exploitation of migrant children in brutal labor jobs, with reporter Hannah Dreier receiving a Pulitzer Prize for her work.
Within Dreier’s report, caseworkers for migrant children had confirmed to the outlet that vetting of sponsors had been rushed, with HHS checks on the kids only being over the phone. According to data obtained by the outlet, the HHS at the time could not reach over 85,000 children and lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.
However, while the outlet’s newest piece briefly touches on the previous report, it hits back on Trump’s newest measures against illegal migrants living in the U.S. and steps to check on children. Migrants who have encountered federal agents checking in on children spoke to the outlet, with the piece focusing on the adults interviewed being concerned about being deported from the country.
The piece notably calls out the Trump administration’s push to end funding to nonprofit organizations holding migrant children in their facilities, neglecting to highlight concerns that had been previously brought forward.
In July 2024, Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) sued one of the largest nonprofits housing migrant children across the United States, Southwest Key Programs, for allegedly engaging “in a pattern or practice of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied children in Southwest Key shelters.” According to the lawsuit, over 100 instances of sexual abuse and harassment of unaccompanied migrant children between 2015 through 2023 were brought forward by victims as the nonprofit had amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the government.
By March, the Trump administration froze funding for the nonprofit, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed that the nonprofit would no longer be receiving migrant children, with those already in the facility being placed elsewhere.
HHS confirmed in April that its Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is reviewing nearly 65,000 reports involving unaccompanied alien children.
A Thursday press release from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley noted the reports include 56,591 general notifications of concern, 7,346 potential human trafficking cases and 1,688 fraud leads.
“My oversight exposed the Biden-Harris administration for placing unaccompanied migrant children with dangerous sponsors and actively obstructing law enforcement and Congress’ efforts to rescue vulnerable kids,” Grassley said.
“I applaud the Trump administration for its swift action to protect unaccompanied migrant children by addressing the concerning reports the Biden-Harris administration shelved,” Grassley added. “I look forward to working with Secretary Kennedy to ensure justice is served.”
As of May, the Trump administration has worked through an estimated 28% of the backlog of migrant child reports left by the Biden administration, according to the press release from Grassley. Despite being less than halfway through, the review has already produced 528 investigative leads, 36 cases accepted for prosecution by U.S. attorneys, seven indictments, 25 arrest warrants, 11 arrests and three convictions.
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