Former President Donald Trump has once again
claimed
that over 300,000 migrant children went missing under President Biden’s watch—an
assertion
that has been widely debunked. Speaking to reporters on July 11, Trump said, “As you know, 300,000 children are missing… We’ve already gotten back 10,000 of those children.” Days later, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) echoed the claim on Fox Business.
However, this figure is based on a distorted reading of government data. The number stems from combining two unrelated figures: one representing children who missed immigration court appearances, and another tracking those who were never issued court dates due to paperwork backlogs. Critics have called this a case of “phantom numbers” driving policy and political rhetoric.
The Real Numbers
A March 2024 report by the DHS Inspector General found that most of the nearly 450,000 unaccompanied minors placed with sponsors between 2019 and 2023 had not vanished. As of January, around 43,000 had missed court appearances, and 233,000 had not received a notice to appear—largely due to administrative failures and poor interagency communication.
Significantly, about 25% of those cases
occurred
during Trump’s own presidency.
A more accurate “missing” estimate would be around 31,000 children, based on sponsor addresses that were blank, undeliverable, or incomplete—not the 300,000 cited by Trump.
What’s Being Done
Under Biden, HHS and DHS have
launched
efforts to close the gaps, including welfare checks, site visits, and coordination with law enforcement. As of April, officials reported 65,000 alerts or concerns, of which 42,000 have been resolved. About 7,500 children were contacted directly, and in some cases, children were found in exploitative conditions, such as forced labor or abuse.
Critics, however, say some of these visits have led to detentions and family separations, raising human rights concerns.
Fact-Checking the Claims
The Trump campaign’s use of the 300,000 figure
conflates
administrative
failures with actual disappearances. ICE, for example, has acknowledged that it wasn’t required to notify HHS when children missed court dates, creating confusion in tracking their status.
Although Trump officials say they’ve located or resolved 10,000 of these cases, the underlying number—300,000—remains misleading. Independent analysis puts the number of genuinely unaccounted-for children at closer to 31,000.
Bottom Line
While systemic flaws in the
tracking of migrant children
are real and ongoing, Trump’s claim inflates the issue nearly tenfold. The administration deserves credit for working to resolve legitimate concerns—but not for reviving a debunked figure for political gain.
Fact Check Rating: ★★☆☆ – Half True