SHOCKING: Biden admin ‘hotline’ for migrant children complaining about sponsors left 65,000 calls unanswered

The hearing focused on the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in what Republican lawmakers described as the “border crisis” under the Biden administration. One of the key witnesses was Ali Hopper, founder and president of GUARD Against Trafficking. Hopper testified that both federal agencies and NGOs have been “hijacked by criminal networks” and operate behind the “scale and the mismanagement” of the immigration system.

Late last year, reports circulated that hundreds of thousands of migrant children sent to live with adult sponsors had been lost under the Biden administration due to ICE being unable to monitor all children in its system effectively. The allegations stemmed from a Department of Homeland Security report, which found that 32,000 unaccompanied minors failed to appear for court dates from 2019 to 2023, and 291,000 migrant children handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services did not receive a court notice at all.

During the hearing, Congressman Eli Crane criticized the administration for its handling of the crisis and highlighted these reports.

“Our colleagues are very upset that we’re having this hearing today. They don’t want to talk about this stuff. They don’t want to talk about the 300,000 kids that we still don’t know where they are,” Crane said. “We’re talking about the NGOs that they used as middlemen to carry out their operations.”

Crane then asked Hopper about what safeguards existed under the previous administration to protect unaccompanied minors.

“Ms. Hopper, you’ve worked closely with trafficking victims and survivors. I’d like to explore the role that the NGOs have played in enabling the trafficking and exploitation of unaccompanied alien children. Under the last administration, what safeguards were put in place to protect vulnerable unaccompanied children?” he asked.

Hopper responded that post-placement welfare checks were limited to two phone calls. “If the sponsor didn’t answer, the case was no longer followed up on,” she replied.

“But there was also a notice of concern hotline where people could report concerns about the unaccompanied child’s safety,” she continued. “What this administration found was from August 2023 to January of 2025, 65,000 calls went unanswered. Those calls spanned from complaints about stale bread all the way to being abused.”

Hopper cited one case where a child reported that adult men were entering his room at night and touching him. That call, like thousands of others, initially went unanswered. According to Hopper, it wasn’t until the current administration took office that these calls were reviewed and that welfare checks were conducted, resulting in the child being rescued and the sponsor being arrested.

Hopper also pointed to a broader lack of oversight, stating that sponsor vetting standards were extremely low. She said a retired Border Patrol agent once told her, “The requirements to adopt a dog that was about to be euthanized were higher than the standards and the documents that needed to be provided for an adult to sponsor a child."