Former Health and Human Services (HHS) official-turned-whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas on Wednesday accused the U.S. government in a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing of becoming a “middleman” in a multi-billion dollar migrant trafficking operation at the southern border.
Since President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president over two years ago, more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border. Since January 2021, border patrol agents have encountered over 356,000 unaccompanied minors at the southern border, most of whom authorities released into the U.S.
Committee members referenced a recent New York Times report alleging that HHS could not reach more than 85,000 children after they began living with their sponsors. The report further detailed allegations about unaccompanied children unlawfully working in dangerous conditions.
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“Today, children will work overnight shifts at slaughterhouses, factories, and restaurants to pay their debts to smugglers and traffickers,” Rodas said. “Today, children will be sold for sex. Today, children will call a hotline to report they are being abused, neglected, and trafficked — and we don’t know if they’re going to get the help they need. For nearly a decade, unaccompanied children have been suffering in the shadows.”
Two years ago, Biden officials dismantled a Trump-era requirement that vets sponsors and performs background checks in the sponsor’s household, many of whom, California Republican Congressman Tom McClintock said, are involved in smuggling the children in the first place.