Donald Trump recently revived claims about unaccompanied migrant children during a series of interviews and rallies, accusing the Biden administration of losing track of thousands of children who crossed the U.S. border. In a June interview on Fox News, host Rachel Campos-Duffy stated that 80,000 migrant children had been "lost", prompting surprise from the former president when she asked if he would commit to finding those children. "I haven't been asked that question, but the answer is yes", Trump replied, adding "Many of them are dead. They have done such a bad job."
Campos-Duffy was referring to reports of unaccompanied children at the border who had been released to sponsors by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). A New York Times report had noted that about 85,000 children could not be reached by officials through follow-up calls, making them vulnerable to exploitation. However, the media outlet did not claim these children were lost. Trump escalated the rhetoric by stating many children had died, although no evidence supports this claim.
