Some Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs), those arriving at the United States-Mexico border with adults who are not their parents or adult relatives, are reportedly going missing after having been released to adult sponsors in the U.S. by President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

According to an exclusive report from Reuters, HHS officials are attempting to locate a number of UACs in the Houston, Texas area after they went missing following their release to adult sponsors. HHS oversees the massive UAC pipeline into the U.S.

Reuters reports:

Earlier this summer, a Houston police detective alerted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after discovering what looked like a pattern of migrant kids missing from the homes of their U.S. sponsors, according to an HHS official, who declined to be identified. [Emphasis added]

…

In August, in a rare step, the HHS refugee office implemented an emergency supervisory review of releases of unaccompanied kids to non-parent sponsors in the Houston area, according to the HHS official and an internal email seen by Reuters. [Emphasis added]

The agency found that since late last year, 57 unaccompanied migrant kids had been reported missing in Houston, the HHS official, and two additional sources familiar with the situation, said. Included in the count were nine kids who ran away from HHS shelters in the Houston area, the official said. [Emphasis added]

As of late August, about 46 of the 57 UACs reported missing in the Houston area had been located, an official told Reuters. Officials also said they do not believe the missing cases are related to sex or labor trafficking crimes.

The revelation comes as HHS previously halted UAC resettlement to Enterprise, Alabam last year as the agency investigated labor trafficking allegations, according to the Reuters report. Though agency officials said they did not find any evidence of trafficking, they did discover harmful working conditions that newly arrived border crossers and illegal aliens had been subjected to.

The UAC pipeline into the U.S. is the largest migrant youth transportation effort carried out. Since Biden took office in late January 2021, HHS has resettled more than 200,000 UACs across American communities. UACs are especially vulnerable to foreign gang recruitment within the U.S. interior.

The majority of UACs are teen boys who are at least 15 years old. Miami-Dade County, Florida, Cook County, Illinois, Marion County, Indiana, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Prince George’s County, Maryland, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Nassau County, New York, Suffolk County, New York, Davidson County, Tennessee, Dallas County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, and Fairfax County, Virginia continue to be the most likely destinations for UACs.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.