FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: June 21, 2024
CONTACT: Melvin Soto, melvin.soto@mail.house.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) introduced a legislative package that aims to combat child trafficking and the hiring of illegal migrants in our country. The Family Reunification Act requires DNA testing of people claiming to have a familial connection with a child coming across the border, ultimately mandating the separation of the child if there’s not a positive match. Additionally, the Illegal Labor Accountability Act seeks to fight the hiring of illegal migrants for exploitation by tripling the civil penalties for employers. 

“Under the Biden administration, almost two and a half million¹ people have crossed our borders illegally while claiming to be part of a family unit. Many of the children in these ‘family units’ are victims of trafficking and forced labor,” said Congresswoman Luna. “We have greedy companies unlawfully hiring illegals, both adults and children, for cheap labor instead of hiring Americans. Not only are they exploiting these immigrants, but they are not being properly held accountable for it. We need to put an end to this.”

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Tara Lee Rodas, a whistleblower who volunteered for the Joe Biden administration, testified that she discovered that “children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that begins with recruiting in [their] home country, smuggling to the U.S. border, and ends when ORR delivers a child to a sponsor. Some sponsors are criminals and traffickers … some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income. This is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking.” 

The Federal Human Trafficking Report estimated that in 2018, 51.6% of the human trafficking cases active in the United States were sex trafficking cases involving only children.² In June 2023 alone, the Biden administration released more than 340 migrant kids to live with nonrelatives³ and from 2021 to 2023, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services could not locate more than 85,000 children they had sent to live with sponsors.⁴ Last year, the Department of Labour investigated reports of migrant children who were being used to clean slaughterhouses.⁵ Furthermore, The New York Times spoke to over 100 migrant child workers who described their jobs as “grinding them into exhaustion” and that they had “become trapped in circumstances they never could have imagined.”⁶

These examples show the exploitation of children in our country and how the Biden administration has actively contributed to making it worse. Congresswoman Luna will continue using all available resources to end these horrifying practices while shedding light on these issues.

The Family Reunification Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and Don Bacon (NE-02).

You can read the bill text for the Family Reunification Act here: https://luna.house.gov/Family-Reunification-Act/

The Illegal Labor Accountability Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and  Randy Weber (TX-14).

You can read the bill text for the Illegal Labor Accountability Act here: https://luna.house.gov/Illegal-Labor-Accountability-Act

Website: luna.house.gov | X: @RepLuna | Instagram: @RepLuna 

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1. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters ↩︎
2. https://traffickinginstitute.org/federal-human-trafficking-report/ ↩︎
3. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/advocates-hhs-questions-unaccompanied-migrants-child-labor-rcna87326 ↩︎
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html ↩︎
5. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/feds-dhs-investigating-human-trafficking-children-slaughterhouses-rcna66081 ↩︎
6. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html ↩︎