"Billions of taxpayer dollars" used by US contractors to traffic children at the southern border, with "government officials complicit," claim congressional whistleblowers.
https://nypost.com/2024/07/09/us-news/b ... on-border/
Biden admin whistleblowers claim ‘billions of taxpayer dollars’ used by gov contractor to traffic children on the border
By Social Links forVictor Nava
Published July 9, 2024, 8:11 p.m. ET
The Biden administration’s Office of Refugee Resettlement failed to vet sponsors responsible for caring for unaccompanied children apprehended crossing the border, whistleblowers told Senators Tuesday, describing several cases of apparent human trafficking involving the minors and their sponsors.
“What I discovered was horrifying: children were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely, with government officials complicit in it,” Deborah White, a federal employee detailed to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, told Republicans during a roundtable co-hosted by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
White revealed that she and her colleague, Tara Rodas, first discovered a case of trafficking involving minors crossing the border in June 2021, but even after reporting it, “children continued to be sent to dangerous locations with improperly vetted sponsors.”
“Children were sent to addresses that were abandoned houses or nonexistent in some cases,” White said. “In Michigan, a child was sent to an open field, even after we reported making an 911 call after hearing someone screaming for help, yet the child was still sent.”
“When I raised concerns about contractor failures and asked to see the contract I was told, ‘You’re not gonna get the contract and don’t ask for it again.’ So I took it upon myself to create trainings for significant incident reports of sexual abuse and for flagging trafficking, in order to equip case managers,” she added.
“But, children continued to be sent to dangerous places.”
White noted that ORR officials never met with sponsors face-to-face and said fraudulent documents were “rampant.”
Rodas characterized ORR as unifying children with “random people,” who were more often than not not the parents of the children.
She described the case of a 16-year-old girl from Guatemala, whose sponsor claimed to be her older brother.
“He was touching her inappropriately. It was clear her sponsor was not her brother,” Rodas said, noting that the girl “looked drugged” and as if “she was for sale” on her sponsor’s social media postings.
The sponsor had other social media accounts containing child pornography, according to Rodas, explaining that it keeps her up at night wondering if the teen is safe.
Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris told the senate panel that she found it “frightening” that less than 10% of children apprehended crossing the border are being released to their parents.
“It defies logic and is inhumane,” Harris said.
“When we questioned documents, HHS ORR leadership said, ‘You’re not fake ID experts, and your job is not to investigate the sponsor. Your job is to reunify the child with the sponsor,’” White told the senate panel.
The whistleblowers argued that ORR and the primary contractor used to resettle unaccompanied children, Cherokee Federal, ignored warnings that children were being trafficked in an effort to prevent crowding at the southern border.
“Cherokee Federal staffed the site with several unqualified unvetted and quite frankly dangerous contractors with access to vulnerable children that did not get the appropriate support, services, or humanity they deserved after a most treacherous journey,” White said. “I have seen these children, I have interviewed these children and I have stories that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”She called the ORR program “the biggest failure in government history that I have ever witnessed.”
“HHS ORR leadership and the contractor allowed children to be trafficked on their watch and the taxpayers continue to fund it,” she added.
“The exploitation of children should not be partisan,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) argued.
“President Biden has the power to prevent this by securing our border and reforming ORR to protect children from harm,” he added. “Unfortunately, Biden is choosing to manage the border crisis as a messaging issue for his campaign rather than addressing the humanitarian catastrophe that has resulted from his policies.”
“If the exploitation of children will not force the President into action, I’m not sure what will.”
HHS and Cherokee Federal did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
"Billions of taxpayer dollars" used by US contractors to traffic children at the southern border
Re: "Billions of taxpayer dollars" used by US contractors to traffic children at the southern border
Wow. Government Whistleblower, Tara Rodas, breaks down how the Biden administration refuses to help children trafficked by MS-13 gang members. As soon as she reported a case of MS-13 child trafficking, the HHS shame walked her out of the building in a perp walk to discourage others from speaking out despite her prestigious position.
This is completely unacceptable and one of the biggest reasons why we must close the border and get control of the crime in this country.
We must save the children from these gangs, cults, and trafficking. If we cannot do that as a society, then we have truly failed.
"HHS is holding secret. The names and locations of the sponsors of the children. It's…unthinkable.
HHS refuses…to give the critical information to the states that could save the children. HHS…is holding this data hostage…They won't allow anyone to see it because they know once law enforcement and the states can see what's happened to the children that there is no rug big enough in the universe to put this under.
…the first case of MS13 of a known affiliated MS13…actor on our site who is attempting to sponsor two young teenagers thirteen years old, one from our site and one from the Fort Bliss emergency intake site, as soon as I reported that case, that's when everything changed. I went from being you know they appointed me to the deputy of the director for our case management team. They, I was highly trusted, highly valued in all of the top executive meetings. They valued my input. They brought me in on meetings with the Executive Office of the President the U S Digital Service, But the moment I reported that MS13 case, it took them less than three weeks to swiftly, accuse me of wrongdoing completely falsely, and then threaten me with investigation. And walked me off the site with security.
The walk of shame. They try to shame you in front of your peers while simultaneously…scaring anybody else from coming forward. So they learned I made protected disclosures, to Department of Justice OIG and HHS OIG and they outed me in front of everybody And then you know falsely accused me of wrongdoing It's absurd. They were trying to hide that they were knowingly because they were aware. I advised them…this sponsor…has known MS13 gang affiliation…and they didn't want it to get out So they decided to try to get rid of me instead. It's incredible because you think the political upside of actually doing something about an MS thirteen contact would be good for someone on you know on either side of the political um aisle that you know the concerns about, um illegal immigration about traffic of children does not need to be political at all or people on both sides of the aisle obviously are against that and want something done about it.
It really is astounding because I volunteered…to support the Biden administration with this crisis at the border. As a Spanish speaker, my husband is from El Salvador. I've been to Guatemala Mexico El Salvador and I thought I can be there to help the children. And once we realized they were trafficking them in June of twenty twenty one is when we started reporting that I, I begged. I appealed I said look, if you no one is going to blame you if you sound the alarms, I said just sound the alarms and say look bad actors have figured out ways to exploit our program. They are using name fraud and address fraud. They are sponsoring from one apartment. There's like three sponsors in one apartment. We have children, like forty children going to an apartment building. I said look if you sound the alarm you can be the hero. Be the hero. Call in the big guns. Call Homeland Security investigations. Please. I said no one is gonna blame you for sounding the alarm, and they wouldn't do it They wouldn't do it...Release the information…so the children can be found. My appeal is find the children, rescue the children. It's unthinkable…that there are children right now who need help They're in crisis, and no one is coming for them."
This is completely unacceptable and one of the biggest reasons why we must close the border and get control of the crime in this country.
We must save the children from these gangs, cults, and trafficking. If we cannot do that as a society, then we have truly failed.
"HHS is holding secret. The names and locations of the sponsors of the children. It's…unthinkable.
HHS refuses…to give the critical information to the states that could save the children. HHS…is holding this data hostage…They won't allow anyone to see it because they know once law enforcement and the states can see what's happened to the children that there is no rug big enough in the universe to put this under.
…the first case of MS13 of a known affiliated MS13…actor on our site who is attempting to sponsor two young teenagers thirteen years old, one from our site and one from the Fort Bliss emergency intake site, as soon as I reported that case, that's when everything changed. I went from being you know they appointed me to the deputy of the director for our case management team. They, I was highly trusted, highly valued in all of the top executive meetings. They valued my input. They brought me in on meetings with the Executive Office of the President the U S Digital Service, But the moment I reported that MS13 case, it took them less than three weeks to swiftly, accuse me of wrongdoing completely falsely, and then threaten me with investigation. And walked me off the site with security.
The walk of shame. They try to shame you in front of your peers while simultaneously…scaring anybody else from coming forward. So they learned I made protected disclosures, to Department of Justice OIG and HHS OIG and they outed me in front of everybody And then you know falsely accused me of wrongdoing It's absurd. They were trying to hide that they were knowingly because they were aware. I advised them…this sponsor…has known MS13 gang affiliation…and they didn't want it to get out So they decided to try to get rid of me instead. It's incredible because you think the political upside of actually doing something about an MS thirteen contact would be good for someone on you know on either side of the political um aisle that you know the concerns about, um illegal immigration about traffic of children does not need to be political at all or people on both sides of the aisle obviously are against that and want something done about it.
It really is astounding because I volunteered…to support the Biden administration with this crisis at the border. As a Spanish speaker, my husband is from El Salvador. I've been to Guatemala Mexico El Salvador and I thought I can be there to help the children. And once we realized they were trafficking them in June of twenty twenty one is when we started reporting that I, I begged. I appealed I said look, if you no one is going to blame you if you sound the alarms, I said just sound the alarms and say look bad actors have figured out ways to exploit our program. They are using name fraud and address fraud. They are sponsoring from one apartment. There's like three sponsors in one apartment. We have children, like forty children going to an apartment building. I said look if you sound the alarm you can be the hero. Be the hero. Call in the big guns. Call Homeland Security investigations. Please. I said no one is gonna blame you for sounding the alarm, and they wouldn't do it They wouldn't do it...Release the information…so the children can be found. My appeal is find the children, rescue the children. It's unthinkable…that there are children right now who need help They're in crisis, and no one is coming for them."