U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recently announced federal officials continue to investigate allegations of human trafficking involving unaccompanied children who entered the United States illegally during the Biden administration.

In a May 29 press release, Grassley announced the release of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) summary revealing thousands of concerning reports were identified in the Biden-Harris administration’s unaccompanied alien children (UC) program but left unresolved, including cases of potential trafficking and fraud.

Grassley, who chairs the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, said the Trump administration is now working to process 65,605 reports concerning migrant children, which were ignored or dismissed during the Biden administration. These reports include 56,591 notifications of concern, 7,346 reports of human trafficking, and 1,688 fraud leads.

In a little over 100 days, Grassley said the Trump administration has processed more than 28 percent of the Biden-Harris backlog, resulting in 528 investigative leads, 36 investigations accepted for prosecution by U.S. Attorneys, seven indictments, 25 arrest warrants, 11 arrests, and three convictions.

“My oversight exposed the Biden-Harris administration for placing unaccompanied migrant children with dangerous sponsors and actively obstructing law enforcement and Congress’ efforts to rescue vulnerable kids,” Grassley said. “I applaud the Trump administration for its swift action to protect unaccompanied migrant children by addressing the concerning reports the Biden-Harris administration shelved.”

While Grassley’s release did not specifically mention the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, a business arm of the tribe, Cherokee Federal, has been previously linked to allegations of migrant child trafficking through a whistleblower’s public testimony.

In July 2024, a whistleblower told members of the U.S. Senate that unaccompanied minors who illegally entered the United States were being released to child traffickers and that Cherokee Federal facilitated those actions.

“Make no mistake: Children were not going to their parents. They were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely with government officials complicit in it,” said Deborah White, a career worker at the federal General Services Administration who was lent in May 2021 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHSORR).

White addressed a roundtable of U.S. senators on July 9, 2024, led by U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Grassley.

White repeatedly criticized Cherokee Federal, the non-governmental organization that received the federal contract to run the Pomona, Calif., processing site where she temporarily worked.

“Children continue to be trafficked into America, and we are paying for it,” White said. “Please understand, this is taxpayer-funded child slavery, sanctioned by our government and brought to you by NGOs like Cherokee Federal.”

Federal records show that Cherokee Federal was awarded a single-source contract to serve unaccompanied alien children in federal Office of Refugee Resettlement custody. Cherokee Federal was paid $706,894,848.

Officials with the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Federal have previously denied wrongdoing.

However, Grassley sent Cherokee Federal and 22 other entities letters requesting additional information about their work with unaccompanied illegal immigrant children as recently as March.

A spokesman for Cherokee Federal said the organization had “responded to all of Senator Grassley’s requests for information” at that time, but did not provide a copy of that response.

But a spokesman for Grassley’s office said officials with Cherokee Federal had “not responded to all of our requests for information” as of March.

When Grassley sent a letter restating his request for information on March 10 this year, the spokesperson for Grassley’s office said Cherokee Federal “acknowledged receipt through counsel, but nothing further has been supplied since then.”

Cherokee Federal did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Grassley said that his oversight will continue. “I look forward to working with [HHS Secretary Robert] Kennedy to ensure justice is served,” he said. 

“So that Congress can conduct thorough oversight of HHS and its efforts to protect UACs released to sponsors,” Grassley wrote in a May 27 letter to Kennedy., “I ask you to respond to the following requests no later than June 10, 2025.”

[Photo credit: United States Senate Press Photographers' Gallery]