Mayorkas says preventing trafficking of illegal migrant children does not come under the jurisdiction of DHS

Speaking with Face the Nation on Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that while his department has received reports of illegal immigrant children being trafficked, "that is outside the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security."

Face the Nation’s Margaret Brennan asked whether it was true that children coming into the US were being exploited and trafficked, noting the tens of thousands of children who the government has lost contact with, to which Mayorkas replied, "we certainly have received reports of children being trafficked, even those as to whom we know where they are."

"That is outside the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. What we do is we turn children over within 72 hours as the law requires to the Department of Health and Human services, and then HHS places those children."

Mayorkas said that "of course, we investigate cases of trafficking, but there are children who are reunited with a parent here in the United States or a legal guardian and they move and sometimes the government loses track, individuals do not comply with the reporting obligations or otherwise. I think it is inaccurate to say that all of them are being trafficked or victimized." 

He said that losing track of an individual is "not necessarily specific to this administration" and that this "has been a longstanding challenge in the immigration system."

This comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams has sat down with incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan, during which meeting Adams was told that there are 500,000 children that "we can't find. We can't find them. We don't know if they're doing child labor. We don't know if they're doing sex crimes. We don't know if they've been exploited. 500,000 children."