In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) demanded the bureau launch a full-scale investigation into reports of roughly 85,000 illegal alien children that are missing after President Joe Biden’s administration released them into the country and lost all contact with them.
Hawley’s letter comes after a whistleblower, former Health and Human Services (HHS) official Tara Lee Rodas, testified on Wednesday at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing — where she accused the federal government of becoming a “middleman” in a multi-billion dollar illegal alien trafficking operation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Rodas first came forward to blow the whistle against the Biden administration last year, speaking to then-CEO of Project Veritas James O’Keefe.
Tara Lee Rodas is a hero. pic.twitter.com/esfDKf2ul9
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) November 30, 2022
She continues to speak out about the shocking things she witnessed at HHS, and her testimony prompted Hawley to write his letter to the FBI.
Last year, brave whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas came to James O’Keefe to expose government sponsored human trafficking.
Today she testified before congress.pic.twitter.com/qDBkukNelP
— O’Keefe Media Group (@OKeefeMedia) April 27, 2023
“According to statistics kept by Customs and Border Protection, some 345,000 children have come across the border unaccompanied since early 2021,” the Missouri senator’s letter began. “I am sure you have seen recent reports in the New York Times that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has lost touch with as many as 85,000 migrant children. Thousands of these children are now the prey of child labor criminals.”
Since Biden took office in January 2021, over 3.5 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. through the southern border — while more than 356,000 unaccompanied minors have been encountered by Border Patrol, most of whom were released into the country. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has lowered the requirements for sponsors for these children, essentially allowing many of them to fall into the hands of traffickers.
“Reporting reveals that HHS loosened vetting processes for sponsors and retaliated against whistleblowers who raised these concerns,” Hawley’s letter read. “As a result, thousands of children have been handed over to modern-day slave traders. They are forced into factory work under punishing conditions. They are forced to make auto parts, process meat in slaughterhouses, and reroof houses. They are denied food, education, and sometimes fear for their lives.”
“In a country that claims to value the rule of law and the protection of children, this is unconscionable,” Hawley argued.
The Republican senator went on to state that the massive problem of missing children “plainly violates both the Fair Labor Standards Act” and also violates “the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which designates human trafficking offenses as federal crimes.”
According to Hawley, a “full-scale” investigation is necessary to locate these missing children and bring their traffickers to justice. He also argued that Biden administration officials need to be held accountable “for their role in facilitating the exploitation of these children, in violation of the law.”
