Under the Biden administration, the United States continues to experience unprecedented numbers of illegal crossings with over 9 million documented encounters along the U.S. borders since 2021. Although most encounters since Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 are comprised of single adults, another category that continues to rise, yet garners little attention, is the vast influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC or UC).
According to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), since Fiscal 2021, over 400,000 UACs have been released to sponsors in the United States. Numerous alarms continue to be raised by oversight officials regarding the vetting process of sponsors, raising concerns that an unknown number of these minors are placed into the hands of their would-be traffickers.
Simultaneously, the Biden administration continues to advocate for the expansion of easy abortion access for minors, without parental consent. In some cases, federally funded organizations are helping to facilitate these abortions despite restrictions on the use of tax payer funds for abortions as outlined in the Hyde Amendment.
A Field Guidance first released by ORR in 2021 states that agency intake teams must “prioritize placement of pregnant UC and UC who are victims of sexual based crimes in states without abortion bans and with broad access to reproductive health care for minors.” The guidance further states that the agency (ORR) aims to “ensure that the pregnant UC has access to available abortion care they have requested and that the care provider assists in the transportation of the UC for the purpose of an abortion, which may include travel across state lines (emphasis added).”
More than 57,000 unaccompanied minors have been released to sponsors across Texas, far more than any other state. Similar to children in foster care, unaccompanied children are among the most vulnerable population. A percentage of UACs end up in the federal foster care system, often run by the same non-governmental organizations (NGOs) contracted with HHS that house and care for state foster care children in Texas and other states.
While attempting to justify the supposed need for abortions performed on unaccompanied children, the UC Berkeley School of Health estimated that 60% to 80% of girls are raped, abused, and exploited while in route to the United States. Unaccompanied minors forced into trafficking situations after being released to sponsors in the U.S. is by no means a new phenomenon. Verified cases involving children brought across the border and subsequently forced into sex and labor trafficking rings have been documented by UNICEF and other federal and international agencies for decades. However, despite these documented cases, under the Biden administration the number of UCs flooding across the U.S. border continues to skyrocket.
Yet, instead of suppressing the policies driving children to endure the dangers often encountered along the route to the U.S., the current administration continues its attempts to codify the precarious incentivizing policies of Health and Human Services (HHS) and ORR, while simultaneously expanding easy access to abortions.
Last year, I testified to Congress regarding my numerous encounters with UACs along the southern Texas border. I cited a handful of examples of these vulnerable children representing various ages, claiming to be told by complete strangers who to ask for when they arrived in the United States. Many of the minors further claimed they had never met or did not know the sponsors they were told to ask for. Investigative reporting by the New York Times discovered recent trafficking cases of unaccompanied children present in all 50 states.
According to a report in the National Library of Medicine, Texas ranks 2nd in the country for trafficking cases behind California, followed by Florida. All three states are the top locations where unaccompanied minors have been released to sponsors since FY 2021 according to ORR.
There is a long-documented history of abortions being utilized as a tool by abusers to further the oppression of sex trafficking and abuse victims. A 2017 U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report outlined the inexplicable link between atrocities of abortion and sex trafficking, stating, “Human traffickers may force pregnant victims to undergo abortions, usually in unsafe conditions, posing further trauma and health risks.”
In 2022, Senator Lankford and several other congressional members sent a letter requesting information from HHS Director Xavier Becerra regarding the abortions performed on unaccompanied minors. In January, Becerra was subpoenaed by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee regarding allegations of UACs being allegedly released by HHS to sponsors with criminal gang affiliations known for their involvement in human and sex trafficking rings.
ORR policy does not require parental or sponsor consent for the abortion since UACs are considered under federal custody until released to sponsors. Furthermore, there are continued allegations of unaccompanied children receiving little, if any, counseling after the abortion is performed. According to HHS statistics, over 10,000 unaccompanied minors have been released to sponsors residing in Dallas County since FY 21. During the same period, Tarrant County saw over 2,500 releases, with neighboring Collin and Denton Counties each absorbing over 1,000 unaccompanied minors.
Considering the large population of unaccompanied minors encountered, housed, and released to sponsors residing in Texas, the question remains: using taxpayer money, how many of these young girls are transported across state lines for an abortion, then later released to dangerous sponsors residing in Texas. Despite Texas passing some of the most substantial pro-life legislation in the country, and despite the states’ attempts to secure our sovereign southern state border due to the failures of the federal government, the Biden Administration continues to wreak havoc on Texas while allowing the further abuse of children and ending the life of innocent babies in the womb.