Human Trafficking in America

In recent months, the world was outraged when they heard that families who attempted to cross the southern border illegally into America were separated.  Under Federal Law, crossing the border illegally is a federal misdemeanor.  However, the Supreme Court ruled in the 1993 case of Flores vs. Reno that that illegals under the age of 18 could not be held in Federal Detention Centers.  In 2015, the Federal Courts expanded this ruling and stated that children who are caught crossing the border illegally with their parents also cannot be held in the detention centers.  However, this right did not extend to their parents.  President Trump's "Zero Tolerance" policy called for a full literal interpretation of these court rulings as the border officials were forbidden to hold children in the detention centers, but their parents, who faced federal charges for crossing the border illegally, would have to remain in custody.  This is created the separation problem, which the U.S. government needed to get fixed quickly.  However, one must also ask this question?  Are the children really coming over the border with people who are their parents?

The sad truth is, not all children who come across the border come with their families.  At times, they come with people who are much more sinister.  In 2014, Federal agents, overwhelmed with the number of illegal immigrants, released an illegal minor by the name Pascual to a man claiming to be his uncle.  That man turned out to be a trafficker who sold that young boy to work with 7 other illegal minors as slaves on the Trillium Farms in Ohio.  Fortunately, the boy was eventually able to contact someone who could help and they were saved, but others are not so lucky.  The trafficker, Castillo-Serrano, had been an illegal from Guatemala who trafficked children to the U.S. by promising their parents in Guatemala that they'd be united with relatives and sent to America schools.  They instead were sold as slaves.  

 Sadly, with thousands of children crossing the border, it is impossible for the U.S. authorities to keep track of all of them and this leads to many falling prey to traffickers.  In 2015 alone, there were over 20,000 incidents in which human trafficking in the U.S. was reported, and there were over 4,000 known cases of sex trafficking.  Minors are especially vulnerable to these despicable acts.  Sadly, one cannot even being to conceive how many cases went unreported.  

 Many want to criticize the demand for increased border security, but securing the border serve to be a critical step forward in the fight to end trafficking.  We must watch over the children who come with their families, but we must also watch over to ensure that the people that they are with are not traffickers.  

 Sources:

 Cilliza, Chris.  "The Remarkable History of the Family Separation Crisis."  CNN.  June 18, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/18/politics/donald-trump-immigration-policies-q-and-a/index.html


Donovan, Blair.  "Alone and Enslaved: The Human Trafficking Epidemic in the United States."  Oxford Stories.  Dec. 08, 2016.  Accessed form https://medium.com/oxford-stories/alone-and-enslaved-the-human-trafficking-epidemic-in-the-united-states-4b5ca5b8e7cd. 

Huetteman, Emmarie.  "U.S. Placed Immigrant Children With Traffickers, Report Says."  The New York Times.  Jan. 28, 2016.  Accessed from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/politics/us-placed-immigrant-children-with-traffickers-report-says.html.

Kight, Stef W.  "The Bottom Line: What Happens When Families Cross the Border."  Axios.  June 19, 2018.  Accessed from https://www.axios.com/what-happens-when-a-family-crosses-the-border-9ee93bb1-ed32-4e73-b2dd-5f51eb86b16b.html

"Reno v. Flores, 507 U.S. 292."  Justia U.S. Supreme Court.  Accessed from    https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/507/292/case.html

Vansickle, Abbie.  "Overwhelmed Federal Officials Released Immigrant Teens to Traffickers in 2014."  The Washington Post.  Jan. 26, 2016.   Accessed from  https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/failures-in-handling-unaccompanied-migrant-minors-have-led-to-trafficking/2016/01/26/c47de164-c138-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html?utm_term=.14d6d38099f6

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