6th District Congressman Glenn Grothman was on the House floor earlier this week, where he called attention to a New York Times article that shined a light on child trafficking through the southern border.
The article says that “The number of unaccompanied minors entering the United States climbed to a high of 130,000 last year — three times what it was five years earlier — and this summer is expected to bring another wave.”
Congressman Grothman told the House that for an estimated 10,000 of those children, “They wind up working in very dangerous working conditions. That’s what happens when you let people across the border without their parents being able to look out for them.”
Grothman also noted that some children are accompanied by a relative, but still end up being trafficked for work.
“Others, like the little girls referenced in the article…came here with a relative she didn’t even know before this, if he really was the relative,” Grothman revealed. “This is something that really bothers the Border Patrol. I really wish some of the democrats would come to the border and find out what is really going on down there.”
He also told the House, “The Border Patrol feels that sometimes when people are bringing children across the border, they are only pretending to be their parents. Sometimes the Border Patrol does DNA checks and they find even more children are being separated from their parents.”
Grothman closed his remarks by saying “We wish we had the time and the money to do DNA tests on all the parents because I’m sure the New York Times’ number is actually greater than that.”
