White House looks to end Biden-era abortion travel funding for 'unaccompanied alien children'

The Trump Administration is reviewing Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations regarding the Biden-era use of taxpayer funding for the elective abortion-related travel expenses of "unaccompanied alien children" (UAC).

The Daily Signal stated that HHS is attempting to "clean[] up the Biden administration regulation so that it is in compliance with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions."

Key Takeaways:

• The Trump administration says it is attempting to put Biden-era, taxpayer-funded abortion travel for "unaccompanied alien children" back in compliance with the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal taxpayers from funding most abortions (as well as ancillary services).

• The Biden DOJ claimed that Hyde allowed for taxpayers to cover the cost of abortion travel; the Trump DOJ reversed this interpretation. However, the Office of Refugee Resettlement website still appears to allow HHS employees to take UAC for abortions on the taxpayers' dime, even out of states where abortion is restricted.

• A whistleblower says she witnessed how this policy led to "a complete disregard for the needs of vulnerable migrant and indigenous children."

• The Trump administration has been called upon to immediately align policies regarding UAC with the Hyde Amendment.

The Details:

In 2022, the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that the Hyde Amendment did not prohibit HHS from utilizing taxpayer funds to cover the cost of transportation for the purposes of abortion. This summer, the Trump DOJ reversed this stance, stating, "... we now conclude that the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal funds to provide ancillary services necessary to receive an abortion."

However, as of today, the abortion-promoting policies of the Biden-Harris administration remain on the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) website. 

UAC are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, rape, sex trafficking, and death. UC Berkeley School of Health estimates 60-80% of unaccompanied girls endure sexual assault while traveling to the U.S. Yet, instead of addressing the bad policies that endangered large numbers of UAC on their way to the U.S., ORR and the Biden-Harris administration sought merely to expand rapid access to abortion. 

According to the Daily Signal (emphases added):

On Nov. 10, 2022, the Biden administration proposed the “Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule,” which required the Office of Refugee Resettlement to “ensure unaccompanied children have access to medical care, including transportation across state lines and associated ancillary services if necessary to access appropriate medical services, including access to medical specialists, family planning services, and medical services requiring heightened ORR involvement.”

The requirement applies “regardless of whether federal appropriations law prevents ORR from paying for the medical care itself,” says the guidance, which became a final rule in April 2024. 

This formed the basis for the office to provide transportation for a number of minors to receive abortions. This includes out-of-state travel for minors in states where abortion is banned. 

Acting Director of the Executive Office of the President Matthew Vaeth, announced in January that the Trump administration would revoke the Biden administration’s executive orders that “promote(d) abortion” in allowing the use of Medicaid funds to cover the costs of travel. Vaeth stated:

“It is the policy of this Administration not to use taxpayer funds to fund, facilitate, or promote abortion, including travel or transportation to obtain an abortion, consistent with the Hyde Amendment and other statutory restrictions on taxpayer funding for abortion.” 

The Hyde Amendment, originally created in 1976, allows for taxpayer funding of abortion only in certain instances, such as rape/incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. But the Biden administration implemented policy interpretations which expanded abortion access and relaxed policies surrounding minors' abortions to circumvent the Hyde Amendment.

So far, official changes regarding immigration and Hyde-like safeguards have only been put in place by House Republicans in FY 26 appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These safeguards disallow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding from paying for or facilitating abortions on female detainees, with some exceptions. 

By The Numbers:

From 2021-24, the U.S. endured the highest number of international border crossings. This included an unprecedented number of UAC, which the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) defines as a person under the age of 18 with “no lawful immigration status” who crossed into the U.S. with no parent or legal guardian or has no parent/guardian living in the country.

After being processed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and under the authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), ORR assumes temporary custody of a UAC until the minor is released to a sponsor. 

According to ORR, from Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-24, the department received 468,892 UAC referrals, of which 448,059 were released by ORR to sponsors across the United States. Nearly 37% were female. More UAC were released to sponsors residing in Texas, a state with some of the strongest pro-life laws in place, than any other state (63,833 from FY 21-24).

While in ORR custody, UAC often reside in temporary HHS/ORR shelters operated by various federally contracted non-governmental agencies (NGOs). Currently, ORR reports 171 shelters operating across 24 states; however, Texas has more of these temporary housing facilities than any other state. 

With such a large population of UAC released to sponsors and temporarily housed in Texas under the Biden administration, ORR likely transported young girls across state lines for abortions or brought abortion pills into the state despite Texas’ pro-life and sovereign state laws. 

Commentary:

A 'right' that was wrong

Mark Lee Dickson, Director of Right to Life Across Texas, works to combat abortion trafficking across state lines. Dickson told Live Action News, “The very thought that the United States government would ever be involved in the transportation or trafficking of unaccompanied alien children across state lines for abortions is heart-wrenching.” 

Dickson continued:  

"Scripture says, 'When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.' These children, which have likely already been wronged by adults, are being further wronged when delivered into the arms of the abortion industry. 

Under the Biden Administration, such activity was recognized as a "bedrock right" not just for all Americans, but for all those who stand on American soil. Abortion trafficking was not just allowed, but also encouraged and even glorified.

Attempts by states, counties, and cities to prohibit abortion trafficking were closely monitored by the Biden Administration through their Reproductive Rights Task Force. Thankfully, under a new Administration, our nation is undergoing a course correction." 

Hiding the truth

While employed with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, Tara Rodas worked inside an HHS-contracted temporary housing facility for UAC under the Biden administration. When concerns were dismissed regarding children released to sponsors with alleged gang affiliations and the agency ignored signs of sex trafficking and exploitation, Rodas became a whistleblower.

Rodas told Live Action News that, while she worked at the Pomona Fairplex Emergency Intake Site in Pomona, California, every young girl was administered a pregnancy test. If a minor was pregnant, then “HHS coordinated the transfer of the child from our site to a facility where abortions were performed.”

While working at the facility, Rodas witnessed HHS staff coordinating abortion procedures for two young girls. “I was horrified," she said. "I had no idea HHS was paying for transportation to abort the babies of unaccompanied children.”

Rodas recalled a staff member emphasizing the phrase, “sponsor cannot know,” while scheduling an abortion for a minor. 

“The children needed trauma-informed care, providers to determine if they had been abused and options for how they could be best cared for…. Instead, the policy and practices were a complete disregard for the needs of vulnerable migrant and indigenous children,” Rodas said.

Rodas was unaware whether any follow-up was provided to the UAC that HHS took for abortions.

The Backstory:

Originally published in 2021, ORR’s Field Guidance 21 prohibited staff and care providers from preventing access to “legal abortion related services” for UAC. It required staff and providers to “make all reasonable efforts to facilitate access to these services,” including “transporting a minor to a state in which abortion is lawful and available if the minor is currently in a state in which abortion is not lawful or available.”    

Field Guidance 21 explicitly stated that consent by a parent or sponsor was not required, and in many cases, ORR staff was prohibited from discussing the pregnancy or abortion of a UAC.

Senator James Lankford and other congressional members reported allegations of UAC receiving little, if any, counseling for the abuse they suffered or after a taxpayer-funded abortion.

In 2022, Lankford and other congressional members sent a letter to Biden HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, calling ORR’s Field Guidance 21 “an illegal and offensive use of taxpayer dollars.” They added: 

It is our understanding that these policies around transportation would require federal personnel to use federally-owned, leased, or contracted vehicles to transport pregnant unaccompanied minors to abortion clinics, wait in the parking lot during the procedure, and then drive the unaccompanied minor back to the ORR facility – all on the taxpayers’ dime.

Depending on the specific ORR facility and state laws concerning abortion, Field Guidance #21 may even require federally-funded transportation that would cross state lines, require hours-long travel, and require overnight accommodations. 

The letter also claimed that “dangerous chemical abortion drugs" were being distributed in the facilities "without medical supervision." Lankford and his colleagues said this was “not only a violation of the clear federal funding restrictions placed on ORR facilities, but also a complete dereliction of the duty to ensure the safety of children in your care.” 

Echoing concerns by Rodas, the Congressional letter stated:

ORR has the responsibility to ensure the safety of some of the world’s most vulnerable children. It is deeply concerning that in a time of such uncertainty and fear, they are entrusted to an agency that prioritizes its pro-abortion agenda over the health and safety of the children in its custody.

A child’s referral to ORR is an opportunity to treat them with care while searching for appropriate, vetted sponsors, not an opportunity to encourage the taking of unborn life. Every life is worthy of protection, born or unborn.

The Bottom Line:

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matthew Bowman told the Daily Signal that the Biden administration's interpretations regarding taxpayer-funded abortion travel for unaccompanied minors "were decided under Roe v. Wade on the explicit premise that there’s a U.S. constitutional right to abortion, and that if a kid crosses the border illegally and is apprehended by Border Patrol, they somehow possess and are protected by that fictional U.S. constitutional right to abortion…."

"But now," he added, "neither are true.”