Former federal agent Tim Ballard went in front of Congress yesterday to advocate for a bill that would aid in the rescue of 85,000 missing children trafficked across the US border.
You can watch his opening statement here:
Traffickers use our southern border to bring slaves into our country for the sex industry because the United States is one of the highest consumers in child sex abuse material in the world.
Our federal agents who work on the southern border are women and men of the highest integrity and dedication. Yet despite their hard work and success of agents on the ground, one thing has become clear: Poor US border security and broken US policy are feeding the growth of human trafficking in the United States.
Heavy words.
Each day our border remains unsecured, more and more of these child victims of sex abuse are brought into the country.
As Ballard said in his testimony, border walls force traffickers to be funneled through ports of entry where their odds of being stopped are increased exponentially.
But the Biden admin is busy tearing down walls and tearing down the border.
The bill Ballard is supporting, which was introduced by Chris Smith of New Jersey, would force the Biden admin to take action on the human trafficking crisis.
Smith's bill would compel the Biden administration to report on its efforts to locate, establish contact with, conduct wellness checks on, and investigate any suspicion of human trafficking related to the approximately 85,000 unaccompanied migrant children released from federal custody without continued official contact.
It's just a small step forward to create accountability for the government agency charged with protecting unaccompanied minors. Right now, the policy has no real oversight, and this bill would require the HHS to document its efforts.
The absolute smallest ask possible, in my opinion.
Ballard is one of the good guys and a true blue hero. Congress and the Biden admin should heed his words.
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