Texas Governor Says Biden’s Border Policies ‘Emboldening’ Human Traffickers

Migrant families and children climb the banks of the Rio Grande River into the United States as smugglers on rafts prepare to return to Mexico in Penitas, Texas, on March 5, 2021. Adrees Latif/Reuters

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday asserted that recent decisions made by the Biden administration on the U.S.-Mexico border are emboldening human traffickers to “ramp up their criminal operations.”

In a letter (pdf) to the White House on Tuesday, the governor called on President Joe Biden’s administration to investigate every unaccompanied minor crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a wider effort to crack down on human trafficking.