Washington Post: Trump Officials Digging Deeper On Missing Illegal Alien Kids

Um, the WP actually seems a bit upset over this

Trump officials broaden investigation into unaccompanied migrant children

The Trump administration is expanding its probe into what happened to the record number of migrant children who crossed the southern border without their parents during the Biden era, dispatching investigators to nonprofit organizations, prosecuting alleged smugglers and requesting help from the U.S. military.

Administration officials this week said federal investigators are continuing a nationwide effort to prosecute anyone who has committed a crime involving an unaccompanied minor, but records obtained by The Washington Post and accounts from aid workers show the administration’s efforts have been even broader.

President Donald Trump and his administration say their investigation aims to protect hundreds of thousands of children who arrived alone and were released to sponsors who they claim were poorly vetted. They allege many of those adults then abused or exploited the children for financial gain, though so far, the government has presented examples of a small number of cases.

Advocates say most children were reunited with parents or relatives in the United States, and that the administration’s efforts could have a chilling effect on a vulnerable group of migrants who may now be wary of seeking help from groups meant to protect them.

So, the investigation is broader per the groups who probably helped lose the kids, and the advocates are advocating to stop searching for the kids because it will cause problems for the illegals who shouldn’t be here? Really?

The acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is under the Department of Health and Human Services and oversees the shelters that house unaccompanied minors, separately secured the Pentagon’s help this spring in auditing federally funded nonprofits that provide legal aid to migrant children, according to a copy of the request reviewed by The Post. The auditors were going to be tasked with investigating any potential fraud.

The Department of Homeland Security, which sent some agents to the nonprofits this week, did not respond to questions about the visits, saying only that its efforts are part of an overall endeavor to locate unaccompanied minors. DHS shared 16 cases in which a sponsor with a criminal history was later arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immigration violations.

Well, that sounds like a good thing, right? Right?

“This feels like another government attack on immigrant children,” said Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights in D.C., one of the groups that federal agents targeted this week. “I don’t think they understand. We’ve been doing this a long time. We’re very good at it. We are working on shoestring budgets.”

Say, did the WP ask Lukens and members of Amica Center about the missing kids, tough, pointed questions? Sorry, sorry, silly question. Apparently, missing illegal kids who are probably being trafficked is no big deal because Orange Man Bad’s admin is investigating

Now the nonprofits contracted to provide legal aid and shelter to unaccompanied children are becoming a focal point of the administration’s probe, and internal correspondence shared with The Post shows how government officials are pushing institutional norms to execute the president’s immigration enforcement agenda.

Did the WP ever consider that all these groups might be problematic, in that they helped facilitate all those kids coming solo, and then profitted off provide aid and shelter? That they might be implicated in trafficking the kids, even by accident?

Advocates who work at the nonprofit organizations contracted to help unaccompanied minors said they turned away the investigators who arrived at their doorsteps and did not hand over any records. Some interpreted the surprise visits as an attempt to intimidate them and expressed fear that it would discourage children from seeking their help.

They’re taking taxpayer money for this, right? Lots and lots of it? Next time there will be warrants. One would think a premier news outlet like the WP would care about kids being missing, about potentially being trafficked, but, they’re more concerned with sheltering the NGOs and such. That the WP would be an advocate for the little people, the people who are in trouble. Nope.