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When border czar Tom Homan announced a drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota last week, he said something else that stood out: that ICE had located 3,364 “missing unaccompanied alien children.”

Unaccompanied minors is a term the federal government uses to describe children under 18 who don't have lawful status in the U.S. and who don't have parents or legal guardians in the country who can care for them. Many live with other family members or connections who are known to the government as their sponsors. The Trump administration has pledged to step up tracking of 450,000 unaccompanied minors nationwide. The goal, it says, is to protect them from abuse and child labor.

Kim Boche leads a team of attorneys at the Advocates for Human Rights focused on unaccompanied minors. They said Homan’s claim was confusing. 

“I don't know where this number is really coming from,” said Boche. “I really think that it is mischaracterizing a paper narrative and trying to sort of stir up a frenzy.”

According to Boche, Minnesota has received about 1,000 unaccompanied children a year since 2021. In 2025, Boche says there was a decrease, to about 200 children. 

When an unaccompanied child enters the U.S., they are placed under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Boche’s team then works to help children apply for status to stay permanently in the country. 

Boche said if a parent was taken during this ICE surge and a child was left behind, legally they would not be considered unaccompanied. 

“It could be a mischaracterization of the use of the word an unaccompanied child, but that term is really applied when a child enters the United States,” said Boche. “If you are essentially orphaned because the government deports your parents, you wouldn't necessarily be deemed an unaccompanied child.”

In those cases, the state is responsible for any children left behind and are generally placed in the child welfare system. Parents are also able to fill out what’s called a Delegation of Parental Authority, or a DOPA. It’s a document that gives a caregiver temporary legal and physical custody of a child and the ability to make decisions.

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Unaccompanied minors describes children under 18 who don’t have lawful status in the country. A lawyer who works with unaccompanied minors in Minnesota said Homan’s claim is a mischaracterization. 

Unaccompanied minors describes children 18 who don’t have lawful status in the country. A lawyer who works with unaccompanied minors in Minnesota said Homan’s claim is a mischaracterization. 

Tom Homan said ICE found more than 3,000 unaccompanied minors in Minnesota. What does that mean?

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