A Texas National Guardsman escorts a group of migrants toward a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 9, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
"Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income -- this is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking," says Tara Lee Rodas.
NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A whistleblower who viewed first-hand what she testified is a "sophisticated network" of child migrant smuggling into forced labor and other forms of slavery is calling on Congress to act to crack down on the U.S. role in that network, reported Fox News on Wednesday.
The hearing, "The Biden Border Crisis: Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children," was held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement and included Health and Human Services (HHS) whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas as a witness, according to the report. Rodas, who was detailed with HHS at an Emergency Intake Site in Pomona, California, on Wednesday told lawmakers about what she experienced on the ground.
"I thought I was going to help place children in loving homes. Instead, I discovered that children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that begins with recruiting in their home country, smuggled to the U.S. border, and ends when (Office of Refugee Resettlement) delivers a child to a sponsor -- some sponsors are criminals and traffickers and members of Transnational Criminal Organizations. Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income -- this is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking," Rodas said.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, the number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who arrive at the border has swelled from 33,239 in fiscal year 2020 to more than 146,000 in fiscal year 2021 and 152,000 in fiscal year 2022. So far in fiscal year 2023, there have been more than 70,000 encounters of UACs, noted the report. ■
