The House Homeland Security Committee is accusing the Biden administration of directly and knowingly contributing to the trafficking and exploitation of minors through its migration policies.
Committee majority leader Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said the administration’s policies, as enacted by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, had resulted in more than 85,000 migrant children going missing.
That number does not mean that something catastrophic has happened to the children, but that the government had tried to contact them after releasing them into the United States and failed to do so.
“The Biden administration has reportedly lost track of more than 85,000 [unaccompanied minors] after release,” Mr. Green said.
Mr. Green added that the committee was preparing a report that would outline how the administration is knowingly engaged in promoting and enforcing border policies that lead to increased instances of the trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors.
“Our committee has been digging into this issue for months now, and let me tell you, when we publish our findings, the American people will be shocked and disgusted at how Secretary Mayorkas’ policies have explicitly led to the mass trafficking, exploitation, and abuse of vulnerable minors. It is truly horrifying.”
Mr. Green said that migrant women and children were being exploited on a massive scale within the United States.
“Migrants are also being abused and exploited to an unprecedented degree,” Mr. Green said.
Agent Says Policies Worsening Tragedy
Mr. Green’s assertions were seconded by Timothy Ballard, a former special agent for the Department of Homeland Security whose career the popular film “Sound of Freedom” is based on.When asked whether he believed the Biden administration’s border policies were responsible for increasing the number of cases of child sex trafficking, Mr. Ballard answered in the affirmative.
“Absolutely,” Mr. Ballard said.
Asked whether Mr. Mayorkas knew that this was the case, Mr. Ballard said there was no way that administration leadership could not know the negative ramifications of their policies.
“I do believe he knows that … I don’t know how he couldn’t know,” Mr. Ballard said.
Mr. Ballard said that he believed the Biden administration’s policies were contributing to record numbers of cases of human and child trafficking, effectively delivering children to predators through its so-called “catch-and-release policy.”
“Traffickers use our southern border to bring slaves into our country for the sex industry because the United States is one of the highest consumers in child sex abuse material in the world,” Mr. Ballard said.
“Poor U.S. border security and broken U.S. policy are feeding the growth of human trafficking in the United States,” Mr. Ballard added.
“Tragically, as a result of this administration’s reckless policies, DHS and HHS have unwittingly become a child trafficking delivery service. This must stop.”
Mr. Green said that the knock-on effects of broken border policies were now beginning to permeate throughout the nation.
From sex trafficking to fentanyl overdoses, he said, the United States as a whole is suffering from a failed suite of migration policies.
“We’ve long said that this crisis has turned every state into a border state and every town into a border town,” Mr. Green said.
“The consequences of the chaos at the southwest border have spread throughout our country, impacting all Americans.”
Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) disagreed with Mr. Green and Mr. Ballard’s view, saying that the Republican majority of the committee was engaged in “partisan politics” meant to help with an “illegitimate impeachment” attempt against President Joe Biden.
The Biden administration’s execution of policies at the border, he said, was “orderly and humane.”
A DHS official said the department has “redoubled its efforts to combat these horrific crimes and is committed to further enhancing its work in this space.”
“DHS recognizes that crimes of exploitation, including human trafficking, labor exploitation, and child exploitation, occur at alarmingly high rates, in the United States and abroad. That is why Secretary Mayorkas made it a new mission area in our third Quadrennial Homeland Security Review,” the official told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
