Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Tuesday that unaccompanied minors at the southern border are being used for sex trafficking and child labor.
The comments come after whistleblowers said the Biden administration ignored warnings that migrant children were at risk of being exploited for labor or sex trafficking, according to The New York Times. The Department of Labor initiated an investigation into snack factories for child labor violations in February.
“We know that Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement has completely lost track of 85,000 children that have come into this country,” Blackburn told Fox News host Harris Faulkner. “We know that you have got over 250,000 unaccompanied alien children and they can’t find 85,000 of them?”
“You reference the whistleblower and what we’re hearing is that many of these children are going to individuals who want to use them as child labor. This is something that has to stop,” Blackburn continued. “The fact that they do not know if these children are being trafficked, if they are in gangs, if they are being used for drug trafficking, sex trafficking.”
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered over 2.3 million migrants in fiscal year 2022, while another 600,000 migrants evaded CBP that fiscal year, Fox News reported. CBP reported encountering 230,000 people in October, the first month of fiscal year 2023, another 233,470 people in November, the second month of fiscal year 2023 and over 250,000 in December.
“These children being sent to people that are using them for labor or putting them into gangs or for sex trafficking,” Blackburn said. “This is modern day slavery.”
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa told the Obama administration in November 2015 that whistleblowers reported similar exploitation of unaccompanied minors, according to a Nov. 24, 2015 release.
“The federal government has been misusing and losing track of children for a very long time,” Faulkner said. “That number, 85,000, didn’t just happen overnight.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.