Missing Migrant Children Scandal Haunts Becerra’s California Governor Bid

Clear Facts

• Over 85,000 unaccompanied migrant children became unable to be tracked by federal officials over a two-year period during Xavier Becerra’s tenure as HHS Secretary
• HHS Office of Inspector General found missing documentation for required safety checks in 16% of sampled case files and untimely follow-up calls in many cases
• Internal HHS officials warned that child labor trafficking was increasing as the system rewarded quick releases over safe placements

Xavier Becerra’s campaign for California governor faces mounting scrutiny over his handling of unaccompanied migrant children as Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration. The controversy centers on tens of thousands of children who disappeared from federal tracking systems after being rushed through placement procedures.

The crisis emerged from the Biden administration’s massive surge of illegal immigration, which overwhelmed shelters for unaccompanied minors. Children were warehoused in jail-like facilities and massive tent cities in major metropolitan areas, creating intense political pressure on the administration to move them quickly.

In response to that pressure, Becerra reportedly pushed staff to accelerate placements while simultaneously rolling back longstanding child safety protections. Background checks and case file reviews that had protected vulnerable children for years were stripped away in the name of efficiency.

“If Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich. This is not the way you do an assembly line,” Becerra told HHS staff, according to a New York Times investigation published in February 2023.

That industrial comparison came even as nearly a dozen officials within the HHS division responsible for unaccompanied migrant children expressed alarm that child labor trafficking was increasing. These whistleblowers warned the system had become “one that rewards individuals for making quick releases, and not one that rewards individuals for preventing unsafe releases.”

The results were devastating. Data obtained by the Times showed that over a two-year period, more than 85,000 children became unable to be tracked by federal officials.

Becerra contested claims that children had been “lost,” arguing they were in the custody of vetted sponsors who simply didn’t answer follow-up calls. His supporters point out that HHS’s legal authority over a child ends once they are placed with a sponsor, though that explanation does little to address the fundamental safety failures.

In February 2024, the HHS Office of Inspector General confirmed serious gaps in sponsor screening and follow-up. The watchdog found missing documentation for required safety checks in 16% of sampled case files and untimely or undocumented follow-up calls in many cases.

Earlier OIG findings from 2022 had already determined that guidance issued to speed releases had removed crucial safeguards and may have increased the risk of releases to unsafe sponsors. The warnings went unheeded.

“Xavier Becerra failed those kids, failed the country, and failed to do his job,” a longtime Democratic Party campaign strategist told Fox News Digital.

“Becerra was horrible at HHS, and thinking he can become Governor of California after that record is delusional. Voters deserve better than a recycled cabinet secretary who couldn’t manage his own department.”

House Republicans subpoenaed Becerra and HHS for records related to the vetting, screening and monitoring of sponsors for migrant children. While Republicans received hundreds of pages of documents, they argued none were responsive to their concerns before hauling Becerra to Capitol Hill for testimony.

The congressional investigation never reached a clean resolution. Committees continued complaining that document production was incomplete, and watchdog reports ultimately became the clearest evidence that the government had failed to reliably track unaccompanied minors entering the United States.

Becerra’s campaign maintains he inherited a broken immigration system from the Trump administration and worked diligently to fix it. That defense rings hollow to critics who point to the specific policy decisions that dismantled child safety protections in favor of processing speed.

The scandal represents a fundamental failure of government’s most basic responsibility: protecting vulnerable children. For California voters weighing Becerra’s gubernatorial ambitions, his record at HHS raises serious questions about judgment, priorities, and accountability.

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