Secure the Border and Stop Human Trafficking

WASHINGTON, D.C.—New numbers released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Saturday revealed the southern border crisis has worsened each year of the Biden administration, with more than 2.4 million illegal immigrants detected at the southern border in FY2023, including 169 individuals on the terror watch list. This is an increase from over 2.3 million southwest border land encounters in FY2022, 1.7 million in FY 2021, and 458,000 in FY2020. Venezuela is now the top country that border crossers originate from, second to Mexico. Recently, federal agencies have expressed increased concern that Hamas and Hezbollah could be crossing the southern border. 

Recently, a human trafficking operation uncovered in Polk County, Florida, led to the arrest of over 200 people, but many did not realize that 35 of those arrested were here illegally. Sadly, the flood of people at our southern border has exacerbated the human trafficking industry in the United States. 

Some sex trafficking victims are often forced into prostitution by the “coyotes” who smuggle them across the border. The connection to human trafficking and the border is certainly not isolated to this single event, nor is it isolated to border states. The arrests in Florida were more than 1,700 miles from the Mexican border. With more than 137,000 unaccompanied/single minors encountered at the southern border in this fiscal year alone, it is estimated that cartels exploit 60% of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) through child pornography, abuse, and drug trafficking. 

Liberty Counsel Action Senior Counsel for Governmental Affairs Jonathan Alexandre said, “The criminal invasion at our southern border is a real ugly mix of national security chaos and a humanitarian nightmare. Biden-picked politicians in the federal government have taken a wrecking ball to our security, tossing the rule of law out the window, and providing a haven to criminal activity like sex trafficking. Congress must act now before it’s too late and pass HR 2, the Secure the Border Act.” 

The Secure the Border Act would: 

·        Strengthen physical barriers at the border. 

·        Give border control the technology needed to secure America. 

·        Hire staff and create a successful working model. 

·        Offer grants to border communities to enhance national security. 

·        Set a minimum number of flight hours over the border. 

·        Cut away the plants giving cover to smugglers and “coyotes.” 

·        Collect the DNA and fingerprints of illegal immigrants at the border. 

·        Run background checks on illegals. 

·        Report on foreign terrorist organizations’ efforts to infiltrate. 

·        Outline proper care for abandoned children. 

Human sex trafficking generates $150 billion annually around the globe. In the U.S., roughly 72% of those trafficked are immigrants, many of whom are here illegally. In the last fiscal year, human trafficking arrests rose by 50%, according to the Heritage Foundation.  

Of the more than 2.4 million illegal immigrants encountered at the southern border in FY2023, nearly two-thirds are single adults. To put this into perspective, the number of illegal immigrants who crossed our border in less than one year surpasses the entire population of the state of New Mexico. This does not count the countless immigrants who have illegally crossed the southern border undetected.  

Liberty Counsel Action Chairman Mat Staver said, “Our nation is being flooded with children, victims, and their abusers. Our government’s dereliction of duty is directly causing this surge in human trafficking, the exploitation of minors, crime, and illicit drugs like deadly fentanyl linked to the border crisis. Our southern border is emboldening the most heinous of crimes and making our country a more dangerous place. I fear we are seeing just the beginning of the carnage and irreversible damage being done to our nation due to the Biden administration’s open border policies. It is time for Congress to act to safeguard our nation by passing HR 2, the Secure the Border Act.”