Under the Biden-Harris administration, the number of requests for taxpayer-funded financial benefits for trafficked foreign nationals, including children, has skyrocketed, according to federal data.

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, foreign nationals in the United States who have been victims of human trafficking are entitled to certain benefits, services, and protections. In order to obtain them, eligible individuals can receive a Certification of Eligibility (COE) mail from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

According to HHS datathe number of COE letters issued increased under the Trump administration and continued to increase under the Biden-Harris administration. Notably, in fiscal year 2017, it was the first time that the number of COE letters issued to children was higher than those to adults and has not changed since.

Data covers fiscal years 2001-2023. Data for fiscal 2024 has not been released. The HHS fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Three full fiscal years under the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations provide full-year comparisons.

Under the Trump administration, WCC letters were published in:

Fiscal year 2017 with 506 children/448 adults Fiscal year 2018 with 465 children/411 adults Fiscal year 2019 with 892 children/310 adults

Under the Biden-Harris administration, COE letters have been issued in:

Fiscal year 2021 at 1,143 children/527 adults Fiscal year 2022 at 2,226 children/731 adults Fiscal year 2023 at 2,148 children/582 adults

The number of letters issued to trafficked children is about three times higher under the Biden-Harris administration than under the Trump administration.

Inasmuch as registration number Of at least 14 million people crossing the border illegally have been reported under the Biden-Harris administration, a record number of unaccompanied children (UAC) have also been reported, suspected of being smuggled into the United States.

HHS reports it received references for 370,573 UACs during fiscal years 2021-2023 and 159,398 during fiscal years 2017-2019.

The controversy intensified when the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, responsible for caring for UACs, was found repeatedly being negligent in the investigations of the Office of Inspector General. Congressional investigations allegations discovered of abuse, as well as HHS ORR losing track of over 100,000 UACs. A Florida grand jury find that UACs were sent to poorly or unvetted sponsors, to live with gang members, people with criminal records and to non-residential addresses and were allegedly mistreated.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, filed criminal charges after whistleblowers came forward and took other actions reform UAC oversight. A committee of the United States House of Representatives recently subpoenaed HHS for UAC information. US Senate Republicans argue the Biden-Harris administration “created the largest child trafficking ring in U.S. history.”

Border Patrol agents have expressed concern about the drugged children they continue to rescue; retired Border Patrol chiefs have explain how teenagers are forced to pretend they are UAC to cross the border and are then trapped in sex trafficking and forced prostitution. The Department of Labor also reported an increase in incidents of child labor violations, The Center Square reported.

Texas Department of Public Safety officers saved more than 900 UACs in Texas alone, the majority of whom claim to be teenagers, a spokesperson told The Center Square.

According to HHS data, the majority of UACs are aged 15 to 17 and are predominantly male. Once processed by Border Patrol and HHS ORR, the majority released into HHS contracted facilities were in Texas, The Center Square. reported.

When Vice President Kamala Harris was a U.S. senator, she favored cutting funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and for years supported eliminating the agency responsible for arresting the most violent offenders. She also opposed ICE’s arrest of illegal alien nationals attempting to sponsor UACs — one of the biggest red flags in human trafficking, according to federal and state investigations.

The Biden-Harris administration also implemented policies facilitating lax sponsor screening and criminal background checks, among other processes identified in OIG reports and in Congressional and state reports. investigations. The administration then sought to codify these policies by changing the rules. opposite by a coalition led by Grassley. The advocacy group Alliance for a Safe Texas also opposed it, pointing to examples of abuse.

“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appear to have overseen some of the worst child abuse in our lifetimes,” Alliance founder Sheena Rodriguez said at Center Square. “The policies they implemented and then sought to codify are dangerous because they have weakened sponsor control requirements, placed children in the care of people outside the family, including gang members, and increased exponentially the likelihood that children will be trafficked and exploited for child labor. »

The HHS data is also “a gross underestimate considering the number of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S. border and the fact that HHS has no idea where the majority of these children are.” “, she said. Rodriguez has called for reforms at the state level, particularly in Texas, highlighting updated HHS data that shows more than 63,000 UACs were sent to “poorly vetted sponsors in Texas” in FY 2024. Since FY 2019, nearly 95,000 were, she said, citing HHS data.