FIRST ON FOX — Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas is introducing legislation to require a DNA test to determine the familial relationship between an illegal alien and a minor to combat human trafficking at the border.
The “End Child Trafficking Now Act” would require the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Health and Human Services to administer a DNA test if an illegal migrant cannot submit documentation or a witness to prove family relation to a minor.
“Every child deserves protection, particularly those most vulnerable,”said Gooden. “The exploitation of underage aliens by human traffickers is one of the most sickening results of the border crisis. This legislation will ensure that young children are no longer viewed as ‘skip the line’ tickets by cartel members.”
The bill’s proposal comes as 81,474 unaccompanied or single minors were encountered at the southern border this fiscal year. ICE officials previously utilized DNA testing at the southern border under the Trump Administration before those contracts expired when Biden took office.
Human trafficking victims spiked by 193% during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, leading lawmakers and border officials to develop new policies to combat the surge.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-T.N.) will be re-introducing the Act in the Senate, after first proposing the bill in August 2019. Blackburn’s bill mandates 10-year sentences for adults who fabricate family ties to a minor and criminalizes “child recycling,” which is when a child is used multiple times by an adult to gain entry.
“Migrants attempting to enter our country illegally often bring children with them under the guise of being a parent or guardian of that child, which is precisely why it is critical for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to conduct DNA testing,” said Blackburn.
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“It’s one of the few ways we can prevent human trafficking,” Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker told Fox News, saying DNA testing helps “prevent children from being used as props—to get adults, that would otherwise be immediately removed, into this country.”
The Flores Settlement requires DHS and HHS to share responsibility for migrant children, and provide minors with access to emergency services, shelter, and food. Officials also must aim to keep children in detention for less than one month. Then, migrant children are given to sponsors, released or transferred to adult facilities.
“The Flores decision made it very tough because when a minor is encountered, the clock starts, and it just makes it very difficult to actually have any policy that is rational,” said Whitaker.
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The HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has been condemned for not tracking minors after being released into the country—leading many children to be trafficked or put in dangerous jobs.
An April New York Times investigation revealed that migrant children were “working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories — all in violation of child labor laws” despite “warnings that the Biden administration ignored or missed.”
The White House has responded to the human trafficking threat by authorizing $14 million last December to staff the Homeland Security’s (DHS) Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT) with at least 45 employees.
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