Sen. Marsha Blackburn said on Newsmax Thursday she's reintroducing legislation that would mandate DNA testing at the border to deter fraud and child trafficking by proving that children are coming into the United States with their legal relatives.
"What we know is that about 30% of the children that present at the southern border are being trafficked, and there have been DNA tests that DHS (Department of Homeland Security) would run," the Tennessee Republican said on Newsmax's "National Report." "It takes about 45 minutes, and it would confirm whether or not a child does belong to the adults that are bringing that child along."
The Biden administration reportedly ended all DNA familial testing at the border on May 31, 2023, according to a press release on Blackburn's website.
"What we have learned is that the cartels are forging documents and presenting birth certificates, passports, things that are fraudulent," she said. "Because of this, you have children that are being trafficked. Even the cartels are recycling children, which means they will attach a child to a couple of adults that are cartel members that they're trying to move into the country to get to a certain place. The adults clear the processing and they send the child back to Mexico to be used again."
This means a "matter of life and death" for the children, said Blackburn. "It is a matter of keeping children out of sex trafficking, human trafficking, labor gangs, or being used as drug mules for some of these gangs."
Under the bill, adults who refuse to undergo a DNA test when with a child would be immediately deported, and if they take the test and fail it, they could face a 10-year jail sentence, said Blackburn.
And if the children stay in the country, the DHS would have to treat them as unaccompanied alien children and find their next of kin to take care of them, she said.
"The other thing that the legislation does is to criminalize child recycling because as we have worked on this issue and worked with Border Patrol and as we hear from them, we realized there is no criminal penalty for recycling these children," said Blackburn.
However, the Biden administration canceled the program in its quest to have an open border, and as a result, "they continue to find ways to make illegal legal," the senator continued.
"They are trying to make it easier to illegally enter the country," Blackburn said. "This is the reason it is so important that we put these safeguards in place and we continue to raise these issues of the humanitarian crisis and the danger to people that are crossing the border." Meanwhile, the cartels remain in charge, and women and girls heading to the border are physically and sexually assaulted, she added.
"Young girls have to be given pregnancy tests because of the sexual assault that takes place as they're making this journey," said Blackburn. "Nobody comes into this country or across that southern border without first going through the cartel. They are global organizations. You had people from 176 different countries that presented at the southern border for asylum claims."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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