US Department Hands Immigrant Children to Human Traffickers

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “failed to take adequate steps,” from June through September, and placed immigrant children with Human Traffickers, according to a staff report in the United States Senate.

Eight Guatemalan teens came to the United States voluntarily because they were promised a better life by their smuggler, “in exchange for $15,000,” according to The Global Center on Human Trafficking, at Montclair State University. Their families did not have that kind of money, so the teens were forced to work in slavery to pay off the debt.

Many immigrant children are held in cells “at the CBP Nogales Placement Center,” according to Business Insider. Image by Associated Press/Ross D. Franklin

With the flood of immigrant children coming into the US, officials loosened their strict policies, and instead of helping the detained migrants, “they were released to the traffickers, who claimed to be their sponsors,” reports The Columbus Dispatch.

The boys were “starved or forced to work for little or no pay,” reports Associated Press investigation. They were forced to live in worn-out trailers, forced to work at an Ohio egg farm, and threatened by their sponsors. They were told they could not quit because they had to pay their “debt” for coming into the United States, according to a Guatemalan boy who agreed to speak in the documentary film “Trafficked in America.”

The HHS Did Not Run A Background Check

The HHS, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the State Department, and the Department of Justice are “A Government Partnership” that are required to “combat human trafficking,” according to a report from the DHS. The United States Government organization (USA Gov), states the HHS’s mission is to “provide essential human services.” The HHS failed to do its job.

In addition, the HHS said “case managers could not find 1,488 children,” reports Associated Press News, “after they made follow-up calls to check on their safety.”

In cases where the agency was unsuccessful to get in touch with the minors, “Instead of investigating further, the caseworker closed the child’s case file,” according to The Washington Post.

Guatemalan Boy Cried For Help

One of the Guatemalan teens contacted “his uncle in Florida who called the local sheriff,” according to Veg News. That’s when law enforcement began to investigate the case and found a contractor associated with Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is known as “modern slavery.” It is “the illegal trade in human beings through recruitment or abduction by means of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of forced labor, debt bondage or sexual exploitation,” describes Safe Horizon.

People Involved In The Human Trafficking Scheme

Pablo Duran Ramirez practiced forced labor. “Through his company, Haba Corporate Services,” Duran was contracted “to provide labor to Trillium Farms,” reports Cleveland 19 News. Castillo-Serrano was the lead smuggler, and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Pedro-Juan “oversaw the victims in Ohio”, and Salgado-Soto, a subcontractor, are all part of the same labor trafficking case. They all pleaded guilty. “No charges were filed against Trillium,” reports WATT Poultry.

Frontline PBS documents “Trafficked In America.” A film, produced by Daffodil Altan and Andrés Cediel, about Guatemalan teens who were smuggled into the United States and trafficked by contractors.

Thousand of unaccompanied children come to the United States and land in the hands of the HHS. From there, it is the HHS’s job to find a “relative or trusted family friend” to take care of the children while they “await their immigration hearings,” read the Ohio State University’s blog.

Improving The System To Avoid Mistakes

In an effort to combat Human Trafficking, in 2019, the HHS “issued 311 Certification Letters and 892 Eligibility Letters to adult and child victims of trafficking, respectively, to be eligible to apply for benefits and services to the same extent as refugees,” they opened more investigations and conducted more public outreaches.

“More than 10 million adults and nearly 4 million children,” are victims of forced labor, according to WorldsChildren.org. In the pictures, Mexican farmworkers face a labor trafficking scheme. According to Wisconsin Watch, the contractors who hired them took their passports, refused to take them to the doctor without pay, and did not allow them to speak to other people near their town. Images by Emily Shullaw for Wisconsin Watch

In 2020, “the U.S. government signed a renegotiated agreement with the Government of Guatemala, which was expanded to include the H-2B program in addition to H-2A. These agreements aim to increase transparency, accountability, and safeguards for temporary workers in the H-2 programs, including protection from labor recruitment practices that heighten workers’ vulnerability to exploitation.”