“Time to end retirement”: Fabbricatore joins fight to rescue migrant children as ORR Senior Advisor

By / / Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice

On May 19, 2025, retired ICE official John Fabbricatore stepped into a new role as Senior Advisor at the Office of Refugee Resettlement, just as the agency faces intense scrutiny for failing to track unaccompanied migrant children after release.

Fabbricatore’s #FindTheKids hashtag signals a push to close those gaps, but the road ahead is steep.

Fabbricatore announced his appointment on X, stating, “Time to end retirement. I was sworn in at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on May 19, 2025, as a Senior Advisor for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Immediate Office of the Secretary in the Senior Executive Service.” 

ORR is responsible for children placed with sponsors after crossing the border alone. Between 2018 and 2023, HHS data revealed the agency lost contact with over 85,000 children released to sponsors. 

The government’s failure to track these children has sparked urgent fears over trafficking, abuse, and systemic breakdown. 2024 DHS watchdog report said ICE lacks the authority and tools to track these children after release, while a 2023 HHS review found state foster care agencies failed to report nearly 35,000 missing kids to the national database.

A 2023 New York Times investigation uncovered that rising numbers of migrant children were ending up in illegal labor jobs. It described how 15-year-old Carolina Yoc worked overnight packing Cheerios in a Michigan factory, surrounded by dangerous machinery. The investigation found similar child labor cases across multiple states. 

Delays in reporting missing children—whether from ORR or foster care—hamper recovery efforts and leave kids more exposed to abuse. These dual child protection crises demonstrate an extensive failure to protect vulnerable children.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has long criticized the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) program, calling its issues systemic. His 2025 oversight report noted that over 500,000 children entered the program under the Biden administration amid a rise in cartel trafficking.

The report alleges that HHS failed to provide complete address information to DHS for over 31,000 children, and that in 80 percent of those cases, the addresses provided were incorrect. Grassley’s findings also estimate that during Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, HHS released over 24,100 high-risk children to unrelated sponsors or distant relatives, often in unsafe housing situations.

The same report criticizes a 2021 inter-agency agreement that prevented HHS from sharing sponsor biometric data with law enforcement, which, according to DHS officials, hindered their ability to flag dangerous sponsors.

A joint hearing held in November 2024 by the House Homeland Security Subcommittees on Border Security and Oversight featured testimony from whistleblower Tara Rodas, who described the UAC system as a “white glove delivery service” for child trafficking. Rodas testified that an HHS official told her that sponsors with ties to MS-13 would only face lawsuits if they retained custody of a child past designated timelines. 

After reporting these concerns to the Department of Justice and HHS OIG, Rodas alleged she faced retaliation – and was forced to leave the premises.

Other testimony came from counter-trafficking advocate Alicia Hopper and retired Border Patrol agent J.J. Carrell, who testified about cases of unaccompanied children being exploited for sex trafficking, forced labor, and, in one instance, alleged illicit organ harvesting. Hopper alleged that cartels target migrant children because of their “intact” organs. 

Rodas praised Fabbricatore’s appointment on X, urging him to “rescue children, arrest & prosecute fraudulent sponsors, and dismantle trafficking infrastructure.” Her post included a video of former White House Advisor Stephen Miller speaking on C-SPAN about a harrowing case involving a 14-year-old migrant girl who became pregnant after being raped by her sponsor. In the clip, Miller slams past immigration policies and says he doesn’t want “moral lessons from anyone who has been involved in human rights crimes.” Fabbricatore publicly acknowledged Rodas’s message, with the reply, “I’ll be reaching out.”

Fabbricatore’s military and ICE backgrounds position him as a potential reformer. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he served over two decades at ICE, ultimately as Field Office Director in the Senior Executive Service. His career focused on deportation operations and counter-trafficking initiatives. He was awarded the Secretary’s Homeland Security Silver Medal for Meritorious Service.

His appointment has drawn praise from conservative figures including former National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn, who wrote on X, “My sincerest congratulations and thanks for stepping back into the 🔥 once again!”  

Journalist Bill Melugin and Border Hawk News also publicly welcomed his new role. 

Praise doesn’t lessen the complexity of what lies ahead for Fabbricatore.

He steps into a system already fractured at its core. The 2024 DHS OIG report emphasized that ICE faces structural challenges in monitoring children after release, due in part to limited authority over sponsor cooperation and inadequate interagency coordination. Grassley’s office described the HHS-DHS relationship as opaque and difficult, particularly since the 2021 agreement reduced information sharing.

The 2023 HHS watchdog report flagged a major gap: many states weren’t linking their foster care systems to national child safety databases, meaning kids could disappear without triggering alerts.

That same year, experts told the House Judiciary Committee that roughly a third of unaccompanied children released by ORR were at risk of trafficking—and many vanished after placement. Witnesses said cartels like MS-13 were exploiting these kids, underscoring the need for tighter cross-border coordination.

These findings, while controversial, reflect broader bipartisan concerns about the fragility of the UAC system.

Fabbricatore’s qualifications make him a compelling figure to lead reform efforts. His background suggests a readiness to implement improvements to sponsor vetting and post-release tracking systems, and to foster the interagency cooperation needed to dismantle trafficking networks and protect children.

An interview with Fabbricatore is scheduled after June 20, 2025, to discuss his initial actions and plans for addressing what may be the most urgent child protection crisis in the country.