Under the Biden-Harris administration, the number of requests for taxpayer-funded financial benefits for trafficked foreign nationals, including children, skyrocketed, according to federal data.
Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, foreign nationals in the U.S. who have been the victims of human trafficking are eligible for certain benefits, services and protections. In order to obtain them, those eligible may receive Certification of Eligibility (COE) letters from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
According to HHS data, the number of COE letters issued increased under the Trump administration and continued to increase under the Biden-Harris administration. Notably, fiscal 2017 was the first time that COE letters issued for children outnumbered those for adults and hasn’t changed since.
The data covers fiscal years 2001-2023. Fiscal 2024 data hasn’t been published. HHS’ fiscal year goes from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. Three full fiscal years under the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations provide full year comparisons.
Under the Trump administration, COE letters were issued in:
Fiscal 2017 to 506 children/448 adultsFiscal 2018 to 465 children/411 adultsFiscal 2019 to 892 children/310 adults
Under the Biden-Harris administration, COE letters were issued in:
Fiscal 2021 to 1,143 children/527 adultsFiscal 2022 to 2,226 children/731 adultsFiscal 2023 to 2,148 children/582 adults
The number of letters issued for trafficked children is roughly three times greater under the Biden-Harris administration than under the Trump administration.
As a record number of at least 14 million illegal border crossers were reported under the Biden-Harris administration, a record number of unaccompanied children (UACs) were also reported, believed to be smuggled into the U.S.
HHS reports it received referrals for 370,573 UACs in fiscal years 2021-2023 and 159,398 in fiscal years 2017-2019.
Controversy escalated as HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, responsible for the care of UACs, was repeatedly found to be negligent by Office of Inspector General investigations. Congressional investigations uncovered allegations of abuse, as well as HHS ORR losing track of more than 100,000 UACs. A Florida grand jury found that UACs were sent to poorly or not vetted sponsors, to live with gang members, those with criminal records and to non-residential addresses and were allegedly abused.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, made criminal referrals after whistleblowers came forward and took other actions to reform UAC oversight. A U.S. House committee recently subpoenaed HHS for UAC information. U.S. Senate Republicans argue the Biden-Harris administration “created the largest child trafficking ring in U.S. history.”
Border Patrol agents have expressed alarm about drugged children they continue to rescue; retired Border Patrol chiefs have explained how teenagers are coerced to claim they are UACs to cross the border and are then trapped into sex trafficking and forced prostitution. The Department of Labor has also reported increased incidents of child labor violations, The Center Square reported.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers have rescued 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 between the ages of 15 and 17 and overwhelmingly boys. Once processed by Border Patrol and HHS ORR, the majority released to HHS-contracted facilities were in Texas, The Center Square reported.
When Vice President Kamala Harris was a U.S. senator, she supported reducing funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and for years supported ending the agency responsible for arresting the most violent offenders. She also opposed ICE arresting illegal foreign nationals attempting to sponsor UACs – one of the biggest red flags of human trafficking, federal and state investigations have found.
The Biden-Harris administration also implemented policies facilitating lax sponsor vetting and criminal background checks among other processes identified in OIG reports and congressional and state investigations. The administration then sought to codify these policies through a rule change opposed by a Grassley-led coalition. The advocacy group, Alliance for a Safe Texas, also opposed it, highlighting examples of abuse.
“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris appear to have overseen some of the worst abuses of children in our lifetime,” Alliance founder Sheena Rodriguez told The Center Square. “The policies they implemented and then sought to codify are dangerous because they weakened vetting requirements of sponsors, released children to nonfamily members, including to gang members, and exponentially increased the likelihood of the children being trafficking and exploited for child labor.”
The HHS data is also “grossly underreported when you consider the volume of unaccompanied minors arriving at the US 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, especially in Texas, pointing to updated HHS data that shows that more than 63,000 UACs were sent to “poorly vetted sponsors in Texas” in fiscal 2024. Since fiscal 2019, nearly 95,000 were, she said, citing HHS data.
