By AMANDA SEITZ and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is conducting a nationwide, multi-agency review of 450,000 migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without their parents during President Joe Biden’s term.

Trump officials say they want to track down those children and ensure their safety. Many of the children came to the U.S. during surges at the border in recent years and were later placed in homes with adult sponsors, typically parents, relatives or family friends.

Migrant advocates are dubious of the Republican administration’s tactics, which include dispatching Homeland Security and FBI agents to visit the children. Trump’s zero-tolerance approach to immigrants in the U.S. illegally — which has resulted in small children being flown out of the country — has raised deep suspicion his administration may use the review to deport any sponsors or children who are not living in the country legally.

Trump officials say the adult sponsors who took in migrant children were not always properly vetted, leaving some at risk for exploitation. The Department of Justice has indicted a man on allegations he enticed a 14-year-old girl to travel from Guatemala to the U.S. and then falsely claimed she was his sister to gain custody as her sponsor.

FILE – Women and children migrants walk with a larger group of migrants through Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico, in an attempt to reach the U.S. border, Jan. 20, 2025, the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente, FIle)

Trump officials will do house checks and interviews

Trump officials expect more problematic sponsors will surface as the administration conducts door knocks and interviews to check on cases in which complaints — about 65,000 of them since 2023 — have been filed. This year, about 450 cases with complaints have been referred to federal law enforcement officials, according to a senior Health and Human Services official who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the review and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“We’re combing through every report, every detail — because protecting children isn’t optional,” HHS said in a social media post on X. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared to reference the review during a Cabinet meeting with Trump on Wednesday, saying his agency was trying to “find the children.”

For at least a decade, the federal government has allowed adults to apply to house migrant children who crossed the border without a parent or legal guardian. The program, however, was plagued with problems during the Democratic Biden administration years as officials struggled to process an influx of thousands of children. Federal officials failed to conduct background or address checks in some cases before placing children with sponsors. In other instances, sponsors provided plainly false identification, a federal watchdog report last year concluded.

After that report was issued, the Biden administration said it had already worked to improve the issues through “training, monitoring, technology and evaluation.”

Thousands of kids were placed with legitimate sponsors

But thousands of children were also placed with legitimate families, some of whom now fear they’ll be swept up in the Trump administration’s review and targeted for deportation, said Mary Miller Flowers, the policy director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.

The center is assigned to work with some of the most vulnerable children who cross the border. Flowers said that many children have been placed with their parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts or uncles.

In some cases, children may arrive at the border separately from their parents who already live in the U.S. and reunite with them through the program.

“Now you have a situation where the government is checking on the wellness of children and encountering their undocumented parents and deporting their parents,” Flowers said. “I don’t know what about that is good for children.”

Government has taken custody of 100 kids

So far, about 100 kids in the past two months have been removed from their sponsors and put back into custody of the federal government, typically in private shelters, according to the health department official.

In Cleveland, federal prosecutors allege that one man, who was living in the U.S. illegally, arranged for the 14-year-old girl to get a copy of his sister’s birth certificate and then coordinated her journey from Guatemala to the U.S. He claimed to be her brother, but no fingerprinting or DNA testing was done to verify his claim, according to a senior Justice Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The man pleaded guilty to sexual battery of the child in Ohio state court in 2024 and was sentenced to eight years in prison, the official said. The man now faces federal charges including inducing illegal entry for financial gain and aggravated identity theft. Attorneys for the man declined to comment.

As part of the review, the Trump administration is working to identify the location of every child who has been placed with a sponsor, the Justice Department official said. Investigators are going through suspicious sponsorship applications, like so-called “super sponsors,” who have claimed to have family relationships with, in some cases, more than a dozen unaccompanied children, the official said.

Videos and reports of armed law enforcement officers showing up to conduct wellness checks at the doorsteps of unaccompanied minors and their sponsors have surfaced from across the country.

In an emailed statement, the FBI said that it is conducting “nationwide” welfare checks because “protecting children is a critical mission,” adding that it would continue to work with its “federal, state and local partners to secure their safety and well-being.”

But advocates have raised doubts that children will open up about abuse or other concerns about their sponsors to armed law enforcement officers from federal agencies who are simultaneously executing mass deportation campaigns.

H2The search for kids has resulted in deportation of some adults

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In Hawaii, homeland security agents have been scouring Kona for unaccompanied minors and their sponsors, with two families deported as a result and another child put back into federal custody, according to a news report from the Honolulu Civil Report. Last month, a northern Virginia attorney posted video of five federal agents visiting the home of his client, who is awaiting a green card, for a welfare check. And in Omaha, a 10-year-old who came to the U.S. unaccompanied about three years ago and was placed with his uncle was visited by armed agents in “black, tactical gear” two weeks ago, according to his attorney. He was asked a series of questions, including the status of his case and the whereabouts of his sponsor, according to his attorney Julia Cryne.

“They’re using this as a way to go after the kids,” Cryne said. Her client, she added, has recently had his application for a green card approved.

H2New rules make it more difficult for sponsors

The Trump administration has dramatically altered the way the sponsorship program works. It’s cut funding for the attorneys who represented the most vulnerable migrant children, leaving even toddlers or preschool aged-children with no federally-funded representation.

The administration has also rolled out a number of new rules for adults who want to sponsor a migrant child, according to guidance obtained by the Associated Press. In recent weeks, the office began requiring sponsors to submit fingerprinting, DNA testing and income verification to strengthen its screening procedures.

That could be a hurdle for many sponsors who may not have an income or might be undocumented, Flowers said. Children cannot leave federal custody until they are released to a sponsor.

“They have put in a trifecta of policies that essentially make it impossible for them to leave federal detention,” Flowers said.

Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed.

An Illinois landlord was sentenced 53 years in prison Friday for the murder of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the attempted murder of the boy’s mother in October 2023, an attack a jury found to be a hate crime spurred by the war in Gaza.

Given his age, Joseph Czuba, 73, will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars under the sentence imposed by Judge Amy M. Bertani-Tomczak.

A Will County jury in Illinois deliberated for just over an hour in February before finding him guilty of fatally stabbing Wadee, a Palestinian-American kindergartener. The panel also convicted Czuba of attacking his mother, Hanan Shaheen, and committing hate crimes.

Just before noon, Wadee’s grandfather, Mahmoud Yousef, walked slowly to the lectern to address the judge. He had not prepared a statement in advance, in part because “there’s nothing too much you can say.” He thanked the police, the attorneys and others who had been part of the case.

He then took a deep breath.

“It’s not easy,” he said.

He thanked Plainfield, for “standing up against the hate crimes.”

“No matter what the sentence is going to be, it’s not going to be justified for us,” he said.

Yousef turned around to face Czuba. Wadee’s parents had plans and dreams for him from the moment he was born, he said.

“Mr. Joseph had no right to take it,” he said. “We want to know what made him do this. What type of news did he hear on the TV or radio that made him do such an unheard (sic) crime, that is more than just hate? We are talking about a 6-year-old kid.”

He turned again to look at Czuba.

“We need to know,” he said. “We deserve for Mr. Joseph to explain his acts. One stab was not enough. Give the father that peace of mind, who had all the plans for his future.”

He turned back around.

“Mr. Joseph, say something,” he said.

Czuba said nothing.

Outside the fourth-floor courtroom after Bertani-Tomczak delivered the sentence, Yousef said he and Wadee’s father, Odai Alfayoumi, were disappointed that Czuba declined to speak.

“We were hoping he was going to say something,” he said. “This sentence is justice for the type of murder, but it’s not justice for us.”

The sentencing is a somber conclusion to a case that drew national attention to spiking Islamophobia against Palestinians and Muslims in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. The war broke out about a week before Czuba attacked the boy and his mother in the home they shared with him and his wife in Plainfield Township.

Czuba’s wife, who was not home at the time of the attacks, divorced him after his arrest and testified against him at trial.

Wadee spent the last morning of his life eating breakfast, helping his mother change the sheets on their beds and playing an educational cell phone game, according to his mother’s testimony. Then Czuba knocked on the door and pushed Shaheen when she opened it.

Shaheen testified during the trial that she believed she was dying during the attack, and locked herself in the bathroom to tell a 911 dispatcher “(Czuba is) killing my baby with a knife” as her son screamed in the next room.

The last words she heard him say were “oh no.”

Authorities found the 62-pound kindergartener lying on a bed with 26 stab wounds. Czuba had left the knife in his body.

Former President Joseph R. Biden named Wadee in a national address weeks after the war broke out, calling the boy “a proud American” and exhorting listeners not to “stand by and stand silent” when they witnessed Islamaphobic and anti-semitic behavior, which rose following the war’s outbreak.

Advocates hailed Czuba’s conviction as a welcome, expected punctuation to a case so wrenching it brought police to tears on the witness stand. But still, they warned, Wadee’s life and death proved the deadly consequences of “hate-filled rhetoric.” Though Wadee and his mother had lived with Czuba and his wife as tenants for nearly two years when the war began, Czuba only became hostile to them after becoming “heavily interested” in the war — telling Shaheen that her people were killing Jews and babies and likening his tenants to “infested rats” shortly after he was arrested.

Shaheen testified that she had no issues with Czuba until the Israel-Hamas war began. After the Oct. 7 attacks, he grew angry with her because she was Muslim and was from Jerusalem, she said.

She said Czuba told her “Muslims are not welcome here.”

He demanded she move out of the home, Shaheen told jurors. Czuba — who also withdrew $1,000 from the bank in case financial systems were affected by the war — said he needed to rent her rooms to a friend.

Shaheen said she assured him she was looking for a place. She also told him to “pray for peace.”

The home where Joseph Czuba allegedly stabbed 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi to death and seriously injured his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 15, 2023, in Plainfield. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

On Oct. 14, 2023, Czuba knocked on Shaheen’s door and physically pushed her after she answered, she said.

“I told you to move out of my home,” Czuba told her, Shaheen testified, adding he was screaming about the war.

She said he also climbed on top of her and tried to strangle her. He stabbed her multiple times in the chest, mouth, neck, across her cheek and near her eye, according to authorities.

At one point, Shaheen testified Czuba told Wadee that Czuba and his wife would raise him but that he could never tell anyone that Czuba killed his mom.

Shaheen said she fought back during the attack but believed she was dying. She wasn’t seeing clearly and was swallowing blood, she said.

She was able to lock herself in the bathroom and call 911. That’s when he began attacking Wadee, she said.

“He’s killing my baby with a knife,” Shaheen told the dispatcher, according to a recording played in court.

Odai Alfayoumi and others carry the casket of his six-year-old son, Wadee Alfayoumi, to the burial at Parkholm Cemetery in La Grange Park on Oct. 16, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

After Czuba attacked Shaheen, he turned his anger towards Wadee, prosecutors said, stabbing him 26 times and leaving the knife with its 7-inch blade in his body.

Police testified they found Czuba lying on the ground in the yard. After his arrest, Czuba was captured on a police camera saying Wadee and Shaheen made him fear for his life.

“I begged her to get out for three days,” Czuba says on the recording. “She would not leave.”

Before the sentencing, Czuba’s defense attorney George Lenard asked for a new trial, objecting to what he described as “prejudicial” comments by prosecutors to the jury during rebuttal arguments that he alleged appealed to jurors’ sympathy. He referenced emotionally charged testimony and evidence, including a photograph of Wadee upon discovery by Will County Sheriff’s deputies.

“When that photograph of Wadee was shown to the jury, one of the jurors became visibly emotional and started crying,” he said.That juror, he said, was the foreman of the panel.

Bertani-Tomzack denied the motion.

“Even considering your claimed errors, the strength of the evidence that was presented in the courtroom makes the difference,” she said.

Wadee loved basketball, soccer and Legos, according to his family.

“I will always remember him with pride,” Wadee’s father’s said.

By TIA GOLDENBERG

JERUSALEM (AP) — When the U.S. and Iran met for nuclear talks a decade ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed against an emerging deal from the world’s most public stages, including in a fiery speech to Congress seen as a direct challenge to the Obama administration as it was wrapping up the talks.

Now, as the sides sit down to discuss a new deal, Netanyahu has fallen silent.

Netanyahu sees an Iran with nuclear weapons as an existential threat to Israel, and he is just as wary of any new U.S. agreement with its archenemy that may not meet his standards. Yet he finds himself shackled with Donald Trump in the White House.

Netanyahu is unwilling to publicly criticize a president who has shown broad support for Israel, whom he deems to be Israel’s greatest friend, and who doesn’t take well to criticism.

He “can’t do anything that goes against Trump. He’s paralyzed,” said Yoel Guzansky, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv-based think tank.

Israel is in a position of power against Iran after a series of strategic achievements over the past 18 months in the wars that have shaken the Middle East. It thrashed Iran’s allies in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria, and directly attacked Iran last year, neutralizing some of its key air defenses. Experts say Israel now has a window of opportunity for what could be an effective strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, with possibly less regional blowback.

Yet Israel’s leader was recently unable to galvanize Trump to prioritize a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities — which would likely hinge on U.S. military assistance to be successful. With the U.S. negotiating with Iran, Israel has little legitimacy to pursue a military option on its own.

“Netanyahu is trapped,” said Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “He was banking on Israel’s position relative to Iran to improve under Trump. In practice, it’s the opposite.”

Netanyahu hoped for alignment with Trump on Iran

Netanyahu and his nationalist supporters hoped Trump’s return to the White House would be advantageous because of his history of support for Israel. They thought that, under Trump, the U.S. might back a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

But Trump’s approach to Iran — as well as on other issues, such as tariffs — has shown the relationship is more complicated, and that Trump’s interests don’t entirely align with Netanyahu’s.

Netanyahu has long accused Iran of developing a nuclear weapon and went on a global campaign against the Obama deal. He painted the nuclear program as an existential threat to Israel and the world, and said the agreement was too weak to contain it. Israel remains the Mideast’s only nuclear-armed state, an advantage it would like to keep.

With Netanyahu’s strong encouragement, Trump backed out of the deal struck by Obama. And since returning to the White House, Trump has given Israel free rein in its war against Hamas in Gaza, been soft on the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory and launched strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have attacked Israel since the start of the war. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

But now that the U.S. has returned to the negotiating table with Iran, Netanyahu would risk jeopardizing his good ties with the president if he were to publicly oppose one of his administration’s key foreign policy initiatives.

The last time Netanyahu crossed the temperamental Trump was when he congratulated Joe Biden for his election win in 2020. Trump was apparently offended by the perceived disloyalty, and their ties went into deep freeze.

Israel is communicating to Washington its priorities for any deal. As part of that, it understood that should Israel choose to carry out a strike on Iran, it would likely be doing so alone — so long as negotiations were underway, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

Netanyahu is hoping for a strict deal on Iran’s nuclear program

In a speech in Jerusalem this week, Netanyahu said he had discussed his terms for a deal with Trump. He explained that it would need to dismantle all the infrastructure of Iran’s nuclear program and that it should work to prevent Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering a bomb.

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“I said to President Trump that I hope that this is what the negotiators will do. We’re in close contact with the United States. But I said one way or the other – Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” he said.

Netanyahu has said he would favor a strict diplomatic agreement similar to Libya’s deal in 2003 to destroy its nuclear facilities and allow inspectors unfettered access. However, it is not clear if Trump will set such strict conditions — and Iran has rejected giving up its right to enrich.

The Trump-led talks with Iran began earlier this month and have advanced to expert discussions over how to rein in Iran’s nuclear program and prevent it from being able to obtain atomic weapons, should it choose to pursue them. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, though some officials increasingly threaten to pursue the bomb.

While Trump has said a military option remains on the table, and has moved military assets to the region, he says he prefers a diplomatic solution. Planned talks between Iran and the United States this weekend were postponed on Thursday.

Netanyahu will also struggle to criticize a deal once one is clinched

Since Trump scrapped the Obama-era agreement in 2018, Iran has ramped up its nuclear enrichment and increased its uranium stockpile.

Netanyahu’s 2015 speech to Congress against Obama’s deal — at the invitation of Republicans — was made without consulting the White House. Obama did not attend.

That was just one of many instances in which Netanyahu was seen as cozying up to Republicans, driving a wedge in what has traditionally been bipartisan support for Israel. That, coupled with Netanyahu’s strained relationship with the Biden administration over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, has meant that Netanyahu can’t rely on Democratic allies to take up his cause.

Still, Netanyahu would struggle to find any Republicans willing to publicly confront the president on this issue. And he himself will struggle to criticize a deal if one is clinched; instead, he might send surrogates like his far-right allies to do so, said Gilboa of Bar-Ilan University.

But until then, Gilboa said, Netanyahu’s best hope is that the talks fail.

“That, for him, will be the best case scenario.”

By DYEPKAZAH SHIBAYAN, Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A 15-year-old Nigerian has set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art canvas to raise awareness for autism.

Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, who is autistic, executed a painting featuring a multi-colored ribbon — the symbol for autism — surrounded by emojis, covering 12,304 square meters. That’s a lot bigger than a typical soccer field, which is 7,140 square meters.

The massive painting is aimed at highlighting the spectrum disorder and challenges that people like him face amid stigma and limited resources in Nigeria.

“I felt fine. Happy. Just fine,” said Tagbo-Okeke, whose disorder limits his speech.

An aerial view of the canvas painting by Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, a 15-year-old autistic artist who won the Guinness World Record for the largest art canvas, on display at the Eagle Square on World Autism Day in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)

His artwork eclipsed that of Emad Salehi, the previous world record holder, who was nearly three times older at 42 when he set the record with a 9,652-square meter canvas.

The artwork, created in November 2024, was unveiled and officially recognized by the Guinness World Record organizers in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja during the World Autism Acceptance Day in April.

Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo Okeke, a 15 year-old autistic Nigerian, who set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art canvas, is photographed with his parents in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga)

Nigeria’s art and culture minister Hannatu Musawa said Tagbo-Okeke’s artwork is “a beacon of hope and inspiration” for people with autism.

“We recognize the unique abilities and potential of individuals with autism and are dedicated to providing opportunities for them to thrive in the creative industries,” Musawa added.

‘Impossibility is a Myth’

Born in Canada before moving to Nigeria, Tagbo-Okeke’s upbringing has been challenging, his family said. His father told The Associated Press during a recent interview that there was often fear, confusion and sadness along the way.

“Not being able to communicate with your son or have regular activities you could have with any other child is quite depressing,” Tagbo Okeke said.

Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo Okeke, a 15 year-old autistic Nigerian, who set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art canvas, is photograph during an interview in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga)

Many people on the spectrum face stigma and limited resources in Nigeria, but Tagbo-Okeke’s family was determined to give him the best support.

The young artist’s record-breaking attempt, accompanied by a campaign tagged “Impossibility is a Myth,” was widely celebrated among Nigerians, partly because of his young age.

“We felt an overwhelming sense of relief and pride, knowing the countless hours and months of effort he poured into breaking the record,” his mother Silvia said.

An aerial view of the canvas painting by Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, a 15-year-old autistic artist who won the Guinness World Record for the largest art canvas, on display at the Eagle Square on World Autism Day in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)

Many young people in Nigeria have attempted to break the Guinness World Record in recent years. At least seven Nigerians have broken world records in the past three years, including Hilda Baci, who won the longest cooking marathon and Tunde Onakoya, who played the longest chess marathon.

Early support is key

Kanyeyachukwu’s world record attempt also sought to raise funds for the Zeebah Foundation, a nonprofit focusing on providing support to those on the spectrum and their families.

Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, Centre, a 15 year-old autistic artist who won the Guinness World Record for the largest art canvas, attends the World Autism Day in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)

While there are no official records from within Nigeria, about 1 in 100 children worldwide is autistic, according to the World Health Organization.

Like in many other countries, autism is often not diagnosed in Nigeria until in older years.

The lack of reliable data on autism, adequate awareness and government support for the spectrum disorder are some of the biggest challenges autistic people face in Nigeria, said Stanley Effah, founder of the Ferdinand Effah Music Heritage Foundation.

An aerial view of the canvas painting by Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, a 15-year-old autistic artist who won the Guinness World Record for the largest art canvas, on display at the Eagle Square on World Autism Day in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Durowaiye)

Effah, whose child is autistic, said his foundation is planning to launch an annual musical concert featuring major artists as part of efforts to raise awareness about autism in Nigeria.

Access to stem cell therapy for autistic children should also be included under the Nigerian National Health Insurance plan as a way to improve their care, Effah said.

Kanyeyachukwu’s mother said more government support was key to provide those on the spectrum the care they need early on in life.

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Kanyeyachukwu was only diagnosed in Canada after years of failed attempts in Nigeria, the father said. The diagnosis paved the way to properly support him, including his love for drawing, discovered at the age of 4.

“We’ve done a lot of work with him,” he said. “Kanye can tidy his room, he can wash his clothes — all of this is because of early intervention. If left alone, he definitely would not be able to do these things.”

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.