The reported abuse of unaccompanied minors under Biden administration leadership and border policies has 76 House Republicans seeking answers.
Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., leads the letter with 75 of his colleagues seeking answers from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security amid reports the administration was ignoring allegations, if not complicit in, the trafficking of illegal border-crossing minors for labor exploitation.
"We are particularly heartbroken to read reports of children contacting HHS after their release to their sponsors in hopes of the agency intervening, with no follow up," Ciscomani wrote in the letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "The policies of this administration are enriching the cartels and transnational criminal organizations, who are profiting from the pain, abuse, and exploitation of these children as they smuggle them into the country."
The New York Times reported on allegations that sponsors were signing up for unaccompanied minors for use as cheap labor in violation of child labor laws, if it was not a cover for a human trafficking operation.
The Times reported in April that abuse of minors was brought to HHS attention, which did not act on the allegations, including the dismissing of whistleblower claims.
A former HHS employee testified last week about the HHS and DHS knowledge of the allegations.
The author of the letter to the officials seeking answers, Ciscomani, is the lone Mexican-born House GOP member. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2006.
His letter detailed the allegations of abused migrant children, including a 1-year-old from Guatemala abandoned in the Colorado River and a 13-year-old extorted by a smuggler he met on social media.
"These children are sent by their parents and drawn to our country for economic opportunity," the letter read. "Then, our systems and the protections they should be afforded fail them as a lack of vetting puts them in harm's way. It is the responsibility of HHS to properly vet the people these children are being released to and to protect them from being exploited.
"Yet, it has been reported that caseworkers feel rushed to move children out of government custody quickly and are not fully vetting the people to whom the children are released. Thus, putting these minors in dangerous environments.
"This is unacceptable. We must treat these vulnerable children with extra care and consideration and should be enforcing policies that discourage this type of behavior."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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