Child sex trafficking has tripled under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as lax border policies have left thousands of vulnerable migrant children exposed to ruthless traffickers, according to a shocking new report.
Under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, child sex trafficking has skyrocketed, with cases tripling since their administration took office, according to a damning report from *The Free Press*. The surge in trafficking coincides with what critics call the administration's lax border policies under Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which have left thousands of vulnerable migrant children at the mercy of criminal gangs and traffickers. This escalation in exploitation has placed a glaring spotlight on the darker consequences of the administration's immigration strategy, which has prioritized open borders and progressive ideals over the safety and protection of migrant youth.
At the heart of the crisis are the unaccompanied minors, many from Central and South America, who arrive in the U.S. after perilous journeys only to fall into the clutches of traffickers. The traffickers subject these children to unspeakable horrors, using them as commodities in both the sex trade and forced labor. Shelters such as Bob’s House of Hope in Denton, Texas, which provides care for male trafficking victims, have witnessed firsthand the brutal toll this system takes on the victims.
Landon Dickeson, the executive director of Bob’s House of Hope, detailed the grotesque abuse many of these teens have suffered. He spoke of young boys arriving at the shelter, broken in body and spirit, after enduring horrific torture from their traffickers. “We’ve seen kids who can barely function after being so heavily drugged,” Dickeson said. “Some have had their fingernails pulled out, and wounds inflicted with lemon juice poured on them. It’s pure torture.”
These methods of control, Dickeson explained, are used to subdue the boys and ensure they don’t fight back. Many victims are chained to radiators, frequently beaten, or kept in drug-induced stupors to prevent them from resisting. These young victims are trafficked across the U.S., forced into prostitution or other abusive labor arrangements to pay off debts to smugglers or trafficking gangs. When these debts remain unpaid, their families back home often lose their property or livelihood, compounding the tragedy.
According to data obtained by *The Free Press* through the Freedom of Information Act, the Department of Health and Human Services issued 1,143 certification letters for trafficking victims in 2021. This number more than doubled in 2022 to 2,226, and despite incomplete data for 2024, the trend appears to be continuing. Since October 2020, the agency has issued 5,517 letters, reflecting the staggering rise in trafficking cases. These figures stand in sharp contrast to the average of 562 cases per year during President Donald Trump’s administration—a threefold increase under Biden’s watch.
The lack of enforcement at the border, combined with the administration’s open-door policies, has created a breeding ground for human trafficking. Despite being appointed as the point person on immigration issues early in the administration, Vice President Kamala Harris quickly distanced herself from the border crisis in 2021. Critics argue that this abdication of responsibility allowed Mayorkas to implement policies that have only worsened the situation, leaving countless migrant children vulnerable to exploitation.
Harris, who is now the Democratic presidential nominee, has not only been accused of ignoring the trafficking epidemic but also of endorsing Mayorkas’ progressive migration policies in her campaign's economic platform. Meanwhile, Mayorkas himself has remained largely unchallenged as he continues to justify his policies on moral grounds, citing his family’s history of displacement and migration. However, his rhetoric rings hollow in the face of the mounting evidence of abuse and exploitation enabled by his department’s policies.
Whistleblowers who have worked at government-funded shelters have come forward, painting a bleak picture of how the system fails to protect these vulnerable children. Deborah White, a former employee at one such shelter, testified that migrant children were often handed over to sponsors with fraudulent IDs or multiple addresses. She recounted one particularly shocking case where 329 children were sent to two garden apartments in Houston. Despite flagging the issue to her supervisors, no action was taken to investigate further.
White’s testimony underscores a systemic failure within federal agencies to properly vet sponsors or investigate potential trafficking networks. Instead of protecting these children, the current system seems designed to move them out of shelters as quickly as possible, regardless of the dangers they may face once placed with unvetted sponsors. This lack of oversight and accountability has allowed traffickers to exploit the very system meant to protect these vulnerable youth.
The rise in youth trafficking cases has prompted public outcry, but media coverage of the issue has been limited. While some outlets, like *The New York Times*, have occasionally touched on the issue, they often stop short of fully exposing the extent of the problem. Instead, mainstream media outlets have largely focused on promoting pro-migration narratives, downplaying the dark realities that accompany mass migration.
In February 2023, *The New York Times* ran a feature highlighting child labor abuses, documenting how young migrants were being exploited in factories and construction sites across the country. Yet, despite these reports, the media has shied away from directly linking the rise in trafficking and exploitation to the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies.
Meanwhile, in September 2023, federal agencies and Houston police arrested 10 human traffickers as part of an operation to crack down on trafficking networks. While law enforcement praised the successful arrests, FBI Houston acting Special Agent in Charge David Martinez lamented that “hundreds more underage sex trafficking victims won’t be rescued because we do not know about them.” The minimal media coverage of this operation and the lack of acknowledgment from Mayorkas’ Department of Homeland Security highlight the administration’s failure to address the root of the crisis.
As the 2024 election approaches, the surge in child trafficking and the administration’s immigration policies are likely to become key points of contention. Critics argue that the Biden-Harris administration has prioritized political ideology over the safety and well-being of migrant children. With youth sex trafficking cases at unprecedented levels, many are calling for a drastic overhaul of border policies to stem the tide of exploitation.
The question remains: Will the administration be held accountable for the human cost of their border policies, or will this tragedy continue to unfold in the shadows, leaving countless children to suffer in silence?
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