Locating migrant children who entered the United States during the Biden administration should be a top national priority, former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino said Sunday on Newsmax.
"There should have been more outrage on the hundreds of thousands of children that were being trafficked across that border under Biden," Bovino told "Sunday Report." "The Border Patrol, as well as ICE, we raised the alarm for years, and it fell on deaf ears."
Bovino's comments came after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin discussed investigations into reports of abuse involving some unaccompanied migrant children, and after the Trump administration announced that 146,000 migrant children who went missing during the Biden administration have been tracked down.
Law enforcement officials warned for years about the dangers facing unaccompanied migrant children crossing the southern border, Bovino said.
However, he added that the plight of migrant children has been overshadowed by political disputes in some states over immigration enforcement.
"Boy, aren't there some misplaced priorities," Bovino said. "It's prioritizing those children above all else, above hunger strikes, above detention facilities that have rioters out front."
He also noted that officials are still searching for many more missing children.
"Good on President [Donald] Trump. 146,000 found. We have several more hundreds of thousands to go," Bovino said. "But that in itself is spectacular."
Bovino called on state and local officials to devote greater attention to the issue.
"We need to put the pressure on the blue states and start recognizing this problem," he said.
Bovino also raised concerns about individuals who served as sponsors for unaccompanied minors after they entered the United States.
Sponsors were expected to provide safe housing and assist children as they navigated the immigration system, but some individuals allegedly used fraudulent documents to obtain custody of minors, he said.
"These individuals are there because they're human traffickers, they're sex traffickers, and many of them presented false documents to become sponsors," Bovino said.
Bovino noted that Department of Homeland Security investigators are closely examining sponsor records and cases involving multiple children placed with the same sponsor.
"They're taking a really close look at who these people are," Bovino said. "Unfortunately, they're not finding one child with these sponsors, but multiple children."
Bovino also criticized former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the Biden administration's handling of the issue, saying officials failed to adequately address concerns raised by border enforcement personnel.
"President Trump, he's fixing it now," Bovino said.
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