A whistleblower warned the United States Congress that child migrant exploitation was happening right now, where young non-American kids are being forced into labor and other forms of slavery.

She warned that she had a first-hand view of the "sophisticated network" of smuggling migrant children, urging lawmakers to act immediately. The whistleblower, Tara Lee Rodas, testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, which was joined by the Health and Human Services (HHS).

Network of Child Migrant Exploitation

The hearing was "The Biden Border Crisis: Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children." Rodas on Wednesday told lawmakers about the details of what she experienced while on the ground for the HHS at an Emergency Intake Site in Pomona, California, as per Fox News.

She said she believed she was working to help place children into loving homes but found out the migrant kids were being trafficked. This begins when they are recruited in their home country, smuggled through the U.S. border, and delivered to a sponsor.

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Rodas argued that some sponsors were criminals and traffickers while others were members of Transnational Criminal Organizations. Some sponsors also viewed children only as commodities and assets they could use for profit. This is why the country was seeing a surge in labor trafficking.

Statistics released by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who arrive at the U.S. border has significantly grown. The numbers went up from 33,239 in the 2020 fiscal year to over 146,000 in the 2021 fiscal year and up to 152,000 in the 2022 fiscal year. So far, in the 2023 fiscal year, there have already been more than 70,000 encounters with UACs.

Immigration Controversy

The situation comes as Title 42, created to protect public health during the pandemic, is close to expiring. American officials reported that thousands of migrants are now pushing to the U.S. Southern Border, according to Fox25.

In a statement, U.S. Border Patrol Chief for the Rio Grande Valley Sector, Gloria Chavez, said they saw an average of about a thousand migrants per day crossing through areas such as Brownsville, Texas.

The situation comes as 19,071 UACs were released from federal shelters and brought to Texas relatives or sponsors while waiting for their immigration cases to pass through the U.S. legal system.

This week, the Migration Policy Institute and the American Academy of Pediatrics released a new report that took a closer look at barriers to health care that the UACs face after they are released to families. They also looked into how these obstacles could curb their potential success in the United States, said the Texas Tribune.

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