US Admits It ‘Lost’ 1,500 Immigrant Children, Handed Many of Them Directly To Human Traffickers

 According to a Senate subcommittee testimony last week, nearly 1,500  immigrant children were lost in government arranged foster homes last  year, with the suspicion that many of them were kidnapped by human  traffickers. 

During the hearing, Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota told child  protection representatives with the Health and Human Services  Department (HHS) that they were “the worst foster parents in the world.” 

“You are the worst foster parents in the world. You don’t even  know where they are. We are failing. I don’t think there is any doubt  about it. And when we fail kids that makes me angry,” Heitkamp said. 

Many of the children are still unaccounted for, but some of them who  have been found were held captive by human traffickers in terrible  conditions. 

Subcommittee Chairman Senator Rob Portman said that an investigation  into the lost children began after the HHS put eight children from  Guatemala into the custody of human traffickers, who forced them to work  on a farm for 12 hours a day without pay. 

“It is intolerable that human trafficking — modern-day slavery —  could occur in our own backyard. What makes the Marion cases even more  alarming is that a U.S. government agency was responsible for delivering some of the victims into the hands of their abusers,” Portman said after learning of the case. 

“Whatever  your views on immigration policy, everyone can agree that the  administration has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the migrant  kids that have entered government custody until their immigration court  date,” Portman said. 

Since that incident came to light, HHS and The Department of Homeland  Security (DHS) promised to check up on the unaccompanied immigrant  children who passed through their care. After these checkups, it was  revealed that many more children were slipping through the cracks than  anyone anticipated. 

Acting assistant secretary at HHS, Steven Wagner, told the committee that between October and December of 2017, HHS called 7,635 children  that the agency placed with sponsors and they were only able to track  down 6,075 of them. At least 28 of them had reportedly run away, five  others were deported, 52 were living with someone else and 1,475 were missing. 

The number of children in danger could be much larger, considering  that since 2013, more than 180,000 unaccompanied immigrant children  passed into America, and very few of them had family in the states who  they could stay with, so many of them were placed in the care of random  foster families who did not have to go through the same types of  background checks and scrutiny that foster families usually do. 

The agencies blame their neglect of these children on low  budgets, but they seem to have billions to spend on fighting the drug  war and creating a police state at the border. 

Of those 180,000 children that were placed in new homes, it is hard  to imagine how many are currently missing, since so many of the 7,635  children who were actually followed up on could not be found. In 2016, an AP investigation  found that more than two dozen children had been sent to homes where  they were sexually assaulted, starved or forced to work for little or no  pay. 

Child welfare lawyers from Ohio who testified at the hearing said  that increased persecution from immigration enforcers has made family  members of unaccompanied children who enter the US afraid or unable to  take custody. One of these attorneys, Jessica A. Ramos, suggested that the children  be appointed lawyers, in addition to having the opportunity to reunite  with family members in the US without fear of deportation. 

“Prioritization of enforcement over humanity is endangering  children. My clients, despite having been born in another country and  not speaking English, are still, above all things, children. Children  who deserve to be safe from harm. Children who deserve a chance, just  like our own children,” Ramos said. 

There have been similar concerns in Europe as well—in 2016, it was  reported that more than 10,000 immigrant children may have disappeared  after arriving in Europe over a two-year time period. 

“It’s not unreasonable to say that we’re looking at 10,000-plus  children. Not all of them will be criminally exploited; some might have  been passed on to family members. We just don’t know where they are,  what they’re doing or whom they are with,” Europol’s chief of staff told the Observer newspaper. While it is possible that some of these children are intentionally  staying under the radar because they fear deportation, there have been  enough cases of human trafficking in these circumstances to show that  this is a widespread problem. 

Along with immigrants and refugees, Native Americans have an  especially high risk of becoming victims of human traffickers. 

As The  Free Thought Project reported  last year, Native American women and children are disappearing from  areas near oil fields, where thousands of workers from around the  country live in “man camps.” 

Investigations have revealed human  trafficking to be a factor in many of these instances, but police in  native tribes do not have jurisdiction to arrest non-natives, making it  difficult to prosecute the human traffickers who are preying on their  community. 

Sadly, whether they are immigrants, natives, orphans, or just poor,  children who are in vulnerable positions become easy targets for  predators, and they are often ignored by the law as well, since these  are already groups who are not treated with the dignity that they  deserve by the systems that they live under. 

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

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My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans

I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.