Have 900 unaccompanied migrant children been released into the custody of one Arizona man?

No.

There is no evidence to suggest that hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children have been released to the same sponsor. 

Unaccompanied migrant children are typically allowed to stay in the U.S. while they await immigration hearings. The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for matching them with sponsors. 

Before a child is released, a prospective sponsor must go through a vetting process that may include proving their relationship to the child and passing a background check. ORR prioritizes placing children with parents or close relatives first, followed by more distant relatives. The agency may then turn to non-relatives, such as family friends. 

From October 2024 through April 2025, about 9% of unaccompanied children placed with sponsors were released to non-relatives. Reports of migrant children working full-time jobs after being released to sponsors have raised concerns about potential labor exploitation in recent years.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service, Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview
• Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Update on Efforts to Mitigate Child Labor Exploitation and Internal Audit on Placement Process Used to Transfer Custody of Unaccompanied Children to Vetted Sponsors
• Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Unaccompanied Alien Children — Fact Sheets and Data
• Administration for Children and Families, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Unaccompanied Alien Children Released to Sponsors by State