January 1, Trump Officials Crack Down On Child Trafficking Risks

Wyatt’s Take

• The Trump team is working overtime to find thousands of missing migrant kids.
• New rules demand tough vetting with background checks and DNA testing.
• Taxpayers’ dollars are now aimed at getting older teens home safe.

The Trump administration is stepping up the fight against child trafficking at the border. Officials are tracking down over 320,000 missing migrant children, reversing what they call dangerous failures under Biden’s watch.

John Fabbricatore, who leads efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services, said kids were too often handed over to so-called sponsors after only a phone call for vetting. “We could never tell if they were able to take care of these children. And there wasn’t DNA testing done to verify that these children actually belong to the people that were claiming to be a familial connection,” he explained.

“There were many ‘aunts and uncles,’ quotation marks that came forward and we found out in multiple cases that that these were wrong, and kids were sent to very bad people.”

He described children ending up with drug dealers or being abused by adults only pretending to be relatives. Whistleblowers revealed how loose checks allowed traffickers and gang members to take kids in.

Now, Trump’s team enforces strict background checks, proof of income, and DNA testing for all sponsors and adult household members. Homeland Security also checks sponsor homes in person to be sure kids are safe.

Many teens taken in during President Biden’s term are turning 18 and leaving care before their cases finish—a problem Trump’s team is trying to fix. Fabbricatore said, “What’s happening is many of these kids are aging out of our care before they ever see an immigration judge, before they ever get in front of a court. And they’re just going out onto the street.”

To encourage safe returns, the administration now offers teens stipends to go back to their families. “The voluntary departure gives them a choice to make an informed decision to go home,” Fabbricatore said.

He stressed that the new approach helps reunite families and verifies every return is safe. Border Czar Tom Homan recently confirmed about 25,000 missing children from Biden’s era have already been found.

Fabbricatore said the work continues “to save every single kid that is in danger or in trouble.”

Stay informed and support efforts to keep our children safe with Middle America News.

Wyatt Matters

Many in Middle America know that family and protecting kids come first. When the federal government steps up to close loopholes and make sure every child is accounted for, it’s a step toward restoring trust and values at our nation’s core.

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