U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials say the agency has located thousands of missing unaccompanied migrant children in Minnesota as part of ongoing enforcement efforts, a claim that comes amid intense national scrutiny of the Trump administration’s immigration operations.
ICE leadership told reporters this week that agency teams have identified 3,364 missing unaccompanied minors believed to be in Minnesota. The agency said these efforts stem from expanded operations aimed at finding vulnerable youth whose whereabouts had been unknown after crossing the U.S.–Mexico border, and coordinating with child welfare authorities and state agencies to ensure their safety. ICE declined to provide detailed breakdowns of the cases but said the work reflects a renewed federal focus on child protection as well as immigration enforcement.
The assertion comes against a backdrop of broader disputes over the handling of unaccompanied minors in federal custody. ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have frequently criticized the prior administration’s record on tracking and caring for unaccompanied children, saying improvements were urgently needed.
