Homeland Security Tests New Program at JFK to Prevent ‘Vacation Cutting’

Homeland Security Tests New Program at JFK to Prevent ‘Vacation Cutting’
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations speak to a 14-year-old American citizen about female genital mutilation as she is about to fly alone to Egypt at JFK International Airport in New York on June 26, 2017. The agents are concerned the young girl may be subject to female genital mutilation once in Egypt. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times
Charlotte Cuthbertson
Charlotte Cuthbertson
Senior Reporter
|Updated:

NEW YORK—It is known that some migrants in America send their young daughters back to their home country during the summer vacation to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). Since 2013, this “vacation cutting” has been outlawed in the United States, but that hasn’t stopped it from happening.

FGM is a cultural practice that involves the mutilation or cutting of the female genitalia for nonmedical purposes. It is usually carried out with razors or knives in unsterilized conditions by women who have not been medically trained.

More than 200 million women and girls in at least 30 countries have been subjected to FGM, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Almost one-quarter of the survivors are girls under 15 and more than half live in Indonesia, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

The practice is most common in Somalia and Guinea, where over 97 percent of all women and girls are subjected to FGM. It is also common in other African countries, the Middle East, and Indonesia.

The reasons for why FGM is performed differ depending on the region, but the practice is often associated with cultural traditions around female sexuality and coming of age. Often, FGM is performed to ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity, according to WHO.

FGM is classified into four major types, ranging from pricking or removing the clitoris, to cutting off part or all of the labia, to stitching closed the remaining labia skin. The last procedure leaves a small hole for urination and menstruation. A woman is often then cut open on her marriage night and again before giving birth.

Homeland Security Investigations Program

Brett Dreyer, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York, launched a pilot program this summer to help prevent vacation cutting.

He based the program on a successful initiative at London’s Heathrow airport, identifying three main goals: to raise awareness, to identify potential victims, and to arrest and prosecute any violators.

The Epoch Times went to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on the evening of June 30 to observe the initiative in action for a flight bound for Cairo, Egypt. In 2015, a study showed that 90 percent of women in Egypt had undergone FGM, despite it being illegal.

HSI agents worked in pairs on the jetway (the walkway between the gate and the airplane) to stop a random selection of passengers before they boarded.

Red flags arose when one team stopped a 14-year-old girl who was traveling to Cairo alone with a passport issued that same day. The girl, an American citizen, said she was going to visit her aunt and grandmother, both of whom she had never met. She was unsure how long she was staying in Egypt. The HSI agents explained to her all of the risks and complications associated with FGM. The girl replied, “Oh well, if it happens to me, I'll just become an activist.”

Charlotte Cuthbertson
Charlotte Cuthbertson
Senior Reporter
Charlotte Cuthbertson is a senior reporter with The Epoch Times who primarily covers border security and the opioid crisis.
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