Unaccompanied children who cross the U.S. border alone are potentially being placed in dangerous situations due to the lax vetting of the adults they’re being handed off to, says a whistleblower who works with a company that transports the minors around the United States.
An unaccompanied child who crossed the U.S. border illegally without a parent or guardian is processed by Border Patrol and then transferred to Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for placing the child with a vetted sponsor in the United States—usually a parent or relative, but not always, says the whistleblower.