‘We’re Going to Find You’: DOJ Takes Decisive Action Against Criminals Who Smuggled Illegal Alien Children

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Thursday that the Department of Justice has indicted three illegal aliens for allegedly smuggling more than a dozen unaccompanied alien children into the United States. 

The aliens from Guatemala “allegedly took part in a wide-ranging conspiracy to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States by scamming the system and exploiting the loopholes created by the last administration,” Blanche said.

Blanche said the criminals would call themselves sponsors and traffic the children to the U.S.-Mexico border. They would often abuse, assault, and exploit the children once they arrived.

Blanche and other administration officials addressed a press conference Thursday on whole-of-government efforts to locate and safeguard unaccompanied alien children

The indictments of the three Guatemalans point to a much larger problem, Blanche said. Many individuals sponsor multiple children to enter the U.S., requiring them to lie to the government by falsely claiming they are related to the child. Perpetrators often use fake or stolen identities and make false claims during the application process to obtain custody of the children. 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump administration has found 146,000 children who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors 

“When the government fails to protect our borders, it is the most vulnerable who suffer,” he said. 

“This administration, we’re going to find you, and those that preyed on these young kids, we’re going to bring you to justice,” he said, “we’re going to charge you, we’re going to work side by side with Todd Blanche and the DOJ to make sure you pay for your crimes,” Mullin said.

“Some of these kids claimed that they were raped over 600 times,” he said. “I don’t care who you are. If you can’t stand for law enforcement to go find these kids, who are you?

Andrew Tysen Duva, assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department, highlighted the story of an illegal alien who was sentenced after convictions of alien smuggling, making false statements, and aggravated identity theft. 

In September 2023, the alien arranged for a Guatemalan family’s 14-year-old girl to illegally enter the United States, falsely saying the girl was his sister. The man will spend the next 10 years in prison. 

“He was entrusted with her care and sexually assaulted her multiple times,” Duva said. “He told her the sex was repayment for bringing her to the United States.”

Angie Salazar, acting director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, said the Trump administration has drastically changed the process of finding alien children. 

The office now requires valid identity documents and fingerprint background checks for sponsors of unaccompanied alien children. It identifies repeat sponsors, requires DNA testing when family relationship is claimed, and verifies income. 

“Most importantly, we physically verify the homes, the addresses, and we meet with sponsors in person,” she said, “and for the first time, ORR is in lockstep with our law enforcement partners to identify bad actors and protect children.”

“We are prioritizing child safety over placement speed and modernizing our systems to strengthen oversight and accountability,” she added. “Every child referred to ORR who is in custody deserves protection.” 

The Daily Signal asked Mullin how partnerships with local law enforcement has changed the process of finding migrant children. 

“Let’s talk about the 287(g) program, which is the greatest partnership we can have,” Mullin said in response. 

The 287(g) program authorizes Immigration and Customs Enforcement to delegate authority to state and local law enforcement to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight.

“It’s shameful that we have governors like in Virginia and governors in New York and governors in California and in other sanctuary states that are refusing to allow their law enforcement to join in the 2087(g) program,” Mullin said, “where we simply go after the worst of the worst, and we say to local law enforcement and state enforcement that if you help us, you don’t have to enforce, just, if you run across these individuals, keep them.” 

Mullin said DHS will provide equipment to state law enforcement officials. However, he said sanctuary state policies prevent local agencies from taking part in the program.  

“I don’t even know how that’s possible, to be honest with you,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you want to take the worst of the worst off your streets? Why would we allow it?”

Mullin cited statistics from the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference that 41 individuals in the state were killed by illegals in 2025 

“Why, why, why would any politician say that we wouldn’t want to get those individuals off our streets?” he asked. “Why wouldn’t they want to partner with DHS and the 287(g) program to help rid this type of activity out of our country and out of your communities, and I can’t make sense of stupidity.”

“Sometimes we allow political theater to get in the way of actual law enforcement, and all we’re saying is, let’s protect our streets and let’s make sure that our kids can go play in our yards, that you guys can go on a run in the mornings,” he added.