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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has identified more than 15,000 cases of adults gaining custody of multiple immigrant children who enter the U.S. without a parent, officials said Thursday, signaling a potential push to prosecute prolific child sponsors.

The Justice Department highlighted cases against three Guatemalan nationals that they say underscore the dangers of improper vetting of sponsors in a program that seeks to unite kids with relatives or family friends after they enter the U.S. Officials said they are investigating numerous other so-called super-sponsors — those who gained custody of more than three unrelated children — to determine whether the sponsors took the kids in fraudulently.

“We will not accept half measures when it comes to securing the border, protecting American lives and saving children from exploitation,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters.

Taking custody of multiple unrelated migrant children is not a crime. The sponsors may be caring and well-intentioned, but senior administration officials calling them out suggests that authorities harbor suspicion about them and may subject them to deeper scrutiny.

Under the Biden administration, officials tried to release children to eligible adult sponsors within 30 days, reuniting many families quickly. But the approach also yielded errors, with some children being released to adults who forced them to work illegally, or to people who provided clearly false identification and addresses.

Under Trump, the administration tightened rules aimed at preventing traffickers from illegally bringing children into the country and that has also led to a dramatic increase in federal custody times for kids. As of May, children are held in federal custody for an average of 206 days before they’re released, compared with an average of 37 days when Trump took office. At the same time, the number of total children in custody has steadily dropped.

Striking a balance to release children to vetted sponsors and shielding them from danger has proved a contentious partisan disagreement.

Democrats “want to claim that Republicans, because we’re enforcing the laws, it’s inhumane, somehow,” Blanche said after criticizing the vetting procedures under the Biden administration. “What’s inhumane about taking care of our kids?”

The cases announced Thursday include charges against a woman who, authorities say, was living in the U.S. illegally, schemed with others to smuggle kids across the border, then used fake identities to gain custody of them in exchange for money. Her attorney, Michael J. Goldberg, said “the only comment I can make is that the case will be tried in court and not in a press conference.”

In another case, a woman is accused of falsely claiming that she was siblings with a teen who had entered the U.S. illegally in her application to become the teen’s sponsor.

Critics of the Trump administration have raised concerns over wellness checks carried out by immigration officers at elementary schools, immigration officers showing up and detaining sponsors at reunification meetings with children, and newly required documentation that’s created a “paperwork barrier” and led to a recent lawsuit.

Shaina Aber, executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, which provides legal services for unaccompanied migrant children under contract with the government, said the administration has not acknowledged the harm it has caused to kids by “subjecting them to indefinite detention and eroding nearly every avenue for legal relief.”

Aber added: “If the administration is concerned with the well-being of unaccompanied children, the answer can’t be to take them away from loved ones, try to undermine their representation, and detain them in group facilities with well-documented risks of isolation, abuse, and mental health deterioration.”

Even sponsors willing to undergo the new vetting procedures have been forced to wait through unnecessary delays.

A Chicago father who is a U.S. citizen and had a valid birth certificate for his child was kept waiting for five months before the government could schedule a fingerprinting appointment. During the wait, his toddler daughter was sexually abused in federal custody, a lawsuit claimed. The government did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the case.

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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a murder conviction for a man accused of killing his 5-year-old daughter and moving her corpse around for months before disposing of it.

Though her body has never been found, police believe Harmony Montgomery was killed in 2019, nearly two years before she was reported missing. Her father, Adam Montgomery, was sentenced to a minimum of 56 years in prison in 2024 after being convicted of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, falsifying evidence, witness tampering and assault.

The Supreme Court, however, reversed the most serious charge, agreeing with Montgomery that the lesser assault charge should have been prosecuted separately. It sent the second-degree murder charge back to the lower court while letting the other convictions stand.

In their unanimous ruling, justices said combining the cases jeopardized Montgomery’s right to a fair trial because jurors may have used the stronger evidence about the assault to conclude, based on weaker evidence, that he killed her months later.

“There was a significant risk that the jury would draw the impermissible inference that because the defendant assaulted the victim before by striking her in the head, he must be the one who fatally assaulted her in December by again striking her in the head,” the justices said.

The second-degree murder conviction accounts for 45 years of Montgomery’s 56-years-to-life sentence, which was imposed on top of an earlier 32 ½-year sentence he already was serving on unrelated gun charges.

The attorney general’s office said Thursday it will pursue a retrial on the second-degree murder charge.

“We remain confident in the facts of this case, the evidence presented, and the exceptional work of our prosecutors, investigators, and law enforcement partners,” said spokesperson Michael Garrity. “We will continue our efforts to seek justice for Harmony Montgomery and all those who knew and loved her.”

Montgomery’s attorneys did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Last year, the state agreed to pay $2.25 million to Harmony Montgomery’s mother to settle a lawsuit accusing social workers of ignoring signs that the girl was being abused by her father after he was awarded custody in early 2019. Crystal Sorey went to police in 2021, and in 2022 authorities announced that they believed Harmony was dead.

Adam Montgomery did not attend his trial in February 2022, and his lawyers called no defense witnesses. His attorneys acknowledged he was guilty of falsifying evidence and abusing a corpse, but they said he did not kill Harmony and instead suggested the girl actually died while alone with her stepmother, Kayla Montgomery.

Kayla Montgomery, who served an 18-month prison sentence for lying to a grand jury about where she was when Harmony was last seen, was the star witness for the prosecution. She testified that her husband killed Harmony on Dec. 7, 2019, while the family lived in their car. Montgomery was driving to a fast-food restaurant when he turned around and repeatedly punched Harmony in the face and head because he was angry that she was having bathroom accidents in the car, she said. He then hid the body in the trunk of a car, in a ceiling vent of a homeless shelter and in the walk-in freezer at his workplace before disposing of it in March 2020, she said.

Kayla Montgomery said she tried to stop her husband from hitting the girl but was scared of him and that he beat her as well as he grew paranoid that she would go to police.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday announced the launch of Fostering the Future Accounts, a spinoff of the Trump Accounts investment funds meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parent opens one.

Building on her work helping foster children, Trump said the new federal guidance will give child welfare agencies the ability to act as a guardian for children in foster care for the purposes of opening an account.

The first lady, speaking at a news conference at the Treasury Department, said the move “gives foster children the same chance at asset ownership and long-term wealth as every other child.”

The accounts will be open for contributions on July 4. To qualify for an account, a child must also be a U.S. citizen born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that a Trump Account balance for a baby born in 2026 will be $5,800 by age 18 and $18,100 by age 28 if no other contributions are made.

The first lady said 23 governors, all Republicans, have pledged to allow state agencies to begin the process of enrolling children in the program. “I urge every governor and business leader to help fund these accounts,” she said.

There are roughly 330,000 children in the U.S. foster care system, according to the National Council for Adoption. One in 5 of them is at risk of homelessness after aging out of foster care, and only half gain employment by the time they are 24, the National Foster Youth Institute says.

“Those outcomes are unsettling, but we refuse to accept them as inevitable,” Bessent told the news conference. “We are affirming that the American dream belongs to every child.”

A provision of President Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation that he signed into law last summer created Trump Accounts. Under them, the Treasury Department gives $1,000 to babies so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the children can access the money when they turn 18.

Employers and billionaires across the country have pledged to make matching Trump Account contributions for employee benefits. Among them are Michael and Susan Dell, who announced a $6.25 billion donation, and hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and his wife, Barbara, who pledged $75 million for kids under 10 in Connecticut, where the Dalios live.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked up this week to just below its high for the year, the latest sign that borrowing costs on home loans remain elevated relative to where they were before the war with Iran started.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.52% from 6.48% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Despite the increase, the average rate remains below 6.84%, where it was a year ago.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate climbed to 5.84% from 5.79% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.97%, Freddie Mac said.

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing their purchasing power.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

Rates have been mostly trending higher since the conflict between the U.S. and Iran began in late February, disrupting the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That’s sent oil prices sharply higher, helping drive up inflation.

Expectations of higher oil prices as the war drags on have kept long-term bond yields elevated, causing mortgage rates to mostly trend higher.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note was at 4.53% in midday trading Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.47% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It’s hasn’t fallen below that threshold since. Two weeks ago, it climbed to 6.53%, its highest level since August 28.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their mostly upward trajectory and uncertainty over how much higher they may go has kept many would-be homebuyers on the sideline.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes declined in the first three months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a nationwide housing slump that dates back to 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales were essentially flat in April, but accelerated in May to their fastest pace since December.

Still, sales of existing U.S. homes continue to hovering close to a 4-million annual pace, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.

The latest mortgage applications data suggest home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates are not holding out for them to move lower.

After declining in recent weeks, mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, jumped 10.8% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for both home purchase and refinancing loans rebounded.

The increase in mortgage applications is an encouraging sign for the housing market heading into the second half of the year after a lackluster spring homebuying season.

“However, if inflation continues to outpace wage growth, eroding purchasing power alongside still-elevated mortgage rates, household budgets will come under increasing pressure, posing a meaningful drag on housing demand heading into the summer,” said Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com.