Blaze News original: Border Patrol whistleblower's career on the line after spotlighting trafficking horrors



Border Patrol Agent Zachary Apotheker faces an ongoing internal investigation that could potentially lead to his termination after he publicly expressed concerns about how open-border policies are fueling the illegal child trafficking crisis in the nation.

Apotheker started his Border Patrol career at the southern border and moved to the northern border's Swanton Sector last year.

Since sharing his concerns during podcast appearances and interviews with media outlets, he says that Customs and Border Protection has retaliated against him despite whistleblower protection laws.

Apotheker has warned that there are "many ways to beat the [immigration] system" as it currently exists. His biggest concern is the disturbing increase in child trafficking.

'I'm assuming they're going to move to terminate me.'

He noted that the Border Patrol's ability to look into the criminal background of foreign nationals crossing the border is limited.

"We don't have their criminal history," Apotheker told Blaze News.

"The adults may not show up with documents, but then the children may not show up with documents, or maybe false documents. So we're just taking their word that this child is now this person's child — that's their biological parents," he said. "We don't even know if the adult that they're with is a criminal."

"We really can't definitively say, and we can't track them," he continued. "Now, imagine if they're unaccompanied [minors]."

"We're just sending them somewhere, so maybe a relative's house. How do we even know that it's the relative's house? And then who's following up on it?" he questioned.

In early September, Apotheker appeared for an interview on the "Fresh&Fit Podcast," where he shared how illegal immigrants exploit the current border policies to traffic humans and drugs into the United States.

Shortly after the podcast's release, he received a cease-and-desist letter from Customs and Border Protection.

Around the same time, Apotheker was also featured in James O'Keefe's documentary, "Line in the Sand," where he spoke out about child trafficking.

In the film, Apotheker mentioned the horrific slaying of 22-year-old Laken Riley, a University of Georgia nursing student, who was murdered while jogging near campus. The man charged with Riley's murder is a 26-year-old Venezuelan national who was in the U.S. illegally and is a suspected member of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua.

Apotheker told O'Keefe, "When a girl like Laken Riley is jogging, she's top of her class at nursing, and we sign those f***ing files, man, that's blood on our hands."

"If it was your mother or your sister or your aunt, how would you feel?"

He told Blaze News that CBP questioned him about his appearance in the documentary film.

Apotheker responded to CBP officials, writing, "I participated in Line in the Sand Film on duty in uniform, as did many other Border Patrol Agents."

In the film, several other Border Patrol officers spoke with O'Keefe while on duty.

He also added that he provided "no CBP information to any non-CBP employee" and gave "zero information that is not public."

Apotheker noted that the "only compensation" he received for participating in the film "was a free, clean, and clear" conscience.

"I told the truth to the American Public and fulfilled my duty to the Constitution of the United States of America," he wrote.

In his letter to CBP officials, Apotheker highlighted that the Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that over 300,000 children are missing. He further pointed out that CBP's failure to collect biometric data on children makes correctly identifying them "effectively impossible."

According to the Department of Homeland Security, "As the regulations currently exempt certain aliens from the collection of biometrics, including those under 14 and over 79, as well as individuals in certain visa classes, CBP does not use fingerprints to confirm the traveler's identity in these cases."

Apotheker told Blaze News that the agency stripped him of his government-issued firearm the same week he responded to the questioning.

'It's like these little mind game tricks. ... They found a way to do what you can't prove.'

On October 11, he received a memo from a CBP division chief informing him that he is "currently under investigation ... for allegations related to serious breaches of integrity and/or security policies."

The agency's memo explained that it was "in the best interest of CBP to temporarily revoke your authority to carry a Government-issued firearm." However, it claimed that the firearm revocation was "not a disciplinary action."

Without a firearm, Apotheker was taken out of the field and instructed to report to work "in business casual attire."

The memo was signed with an indecipherable handwritten signature belonging to a Swanton Sector division chief. No corresponding printed name to identify the individual was listed.

Image Source: Zachary Apotheker

Apotheker told Blaze News, "They pulled my gun, which takes me out of the field. I can't do my job."

"It's kind of rare for them to take your gun for no other reason and say it wasn't disciplinary but not take your law enforcement credentials," he added.

Soon after receiving the memo, Apotheker was served another notice, this one compelling his sworn testimony on October 17 before a Department of Homeland Security special agent.

Apotheker was informed that he would be questioned about his "general misconduct/disruptive behavior."

He attended the compelled administrative hearing but was advised by his legal representation not to answer any questions.

"I feel I've done nothing wrong," Apotheker stated. He acknowledged that wearing his Border Patrol uniform during the podcast appearance breached the agency's policy. However, he explained that he only did so after filing a whistleblower report through the DHS' Office of Inspector General and speaking to a member of Congress, and "nothing was done."

"I used discretion," he said. "The country needs to be made aware of this."

He explained that his legal counsel, obtained through the Citizenship Journalism Foundation, instructed him not to participate in the CBP's "retaliatory investigation."

"We just didn't want to legitimize that meeting," he told Blaze News. "I don't feel like I should be being investigated. If anything, I feel like they should be asking me what I know and how to resolve it."

The day after the hearing, Apotheker received a notice informing him that his law enforcement authority had been revoked, citing his "fail[ure] to respond to questions asked of you during an administrative interview conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Professional Responsibility."

"Your refusal to participate in a compelled interview called into question your ability to perform the law enforcement functions of your positions as a Border Patrol Agent," the memo read.

Apotheker was required to hand in the rest of his Border Patrol gear, including his badge, body armor, and radio.

"Consequently, you will be placed on administrative duties immediately," the memo continued. "Your access to the building and computer systems will be modified to limit your accessibility only to those areas necessary to perform your assigned administrative duties. Since you will not be performing law enforcement duties, you are not to wear your uniform and will adhere to business casual dress code standards."

Again, the memo mentioned, "Please note that this is not a disciplinary action, but is necessary, given the nature of the allegation(s) against you, in order to preserve the trust of the public we serve."

The memo contained the same division chief's signature and, again, no printed name.

Image Source: Zachary Apotheker

Apotheker told Blaze News that the agency changed his schedule and significantly cut his hours.

"Not only did they cut my overtime, which is a big amount of money, but from switching me from nights to mornings, what they're basically trying to do is apply financial pressure to me because you get a 10% night differential for every hour after 6 p.m.," he said.

Apotheker stated that his pay was slashed by at least $25,000-$35,000 with "all the tricks they did." He feels the changes were "100% retaliatory," despite the agency's insistence otherwise.

"They would do everything they could to make it more difficult for me," he said.

'We're gonna battle this out.'

Apotheker recounted that even before his equipment was confiscated and his law enforcement powers were stripped, his superiors seemed to go out of their way to make his time at work more challenging, including stationing him in the most remote areas of the sector. After driving for hours to reach his assignment, he would soon be summoned back for last-minute meetings, he said.

"They'd send me out to the furthest part of our area. I drive out there for two hours, they call me back. Now, it happened consistently," he said. "Every day, I knew that I was gonna get called over the radio to come in for another meeting where they could have just had the meeting then and there."

"It's like these little mind game tricks," Apotheker added. "They found a way to do what you can't prove."

He explained that before he left the southern border and relocated to the Swanton Sector, he "was known as someone that was not happy with what was going on in Arizona."

"And when I came up here, I felt like that followed me — that I was a person with a reputation that would speak out against what's going on instead of just doing it and shutting up," Apotheker added.

He stated he got the impression that his leadership "wanted to make it known to me that that wasn't going to be tolerated up here."

Apotheker told Blaze News that Border Patrol Agents have "worked harder on the northern border than we have down south because, per capita, we have less agents to do so much work."

"We have a lot of drive-throughs up here, which means people will physically take a vehicle and drive from Canada into America, which should be a massive crime. You're not just crossing; now you're taking a vehicle across. You're driving past an international boundary," he explained. "If it's a family, sometimes they've taken us on chases."

The Swanton Sector is the most heavily trafficked northern border section, covering 24,000 square miles.

In October, Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia announced, "Border Patrol Agents in Swanton Sector have apprehended more than 19,222 subjects from 97 different countries since October 1, 2023, which is more than its last 17 fiscal years combined."

Apotheker is concerned that the CBP's internal investigation will ultimately result in his firing.

When asked what is next for him, Apotheker told Blaze News, "We're gonna battle this out."

"I'm assuming they're going to move to terminate me," he continued, but he noted that "there's a lot of different things that could happen."

"I don't want it to be about me," Apotheker added. "I want it to be about what's going on the last three and a half years, which everybody knows, and I want to expose the people that are trying to remove me for telling the truth. And that's my goal is that I'm not going to give in."

Neither CBP nor DHS-OIG responded to Blaze News' requests for comment.

Arizona sends clear message on illegal immigration, child sex trafficking in major landslide decisions



As of Wednesday afternoon, Arizona’s final election results were still pending, yet two immigration and crime-related ballot measures had already secured resounding victories — propositions 313 and 314.

Prop 313 increases the penalties for convicted child sex traffickers, requiring a mandatory minimum life sentence without the possibility of parole or release.

'Ignore the gaslighting.'

Currently, under Arizona law, those convicted of sex trafficking a child under 15 years old face a minimum of seven years in prison.

With only 59% of Arizona's ballot tallied, the prop passed with more than 1.3 million votes, 63.7%.

Republican state Sen. Shawnna Bolick urged voters to support the measure and "send a powerful message: Arizona's children are not for sale."

"Every two minutes a child from the United States is trafficked for the sole purpose of human exploitation. According to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the average age of entry into sex trafficking is 14 years old. Traffickers steal our children as young as five years old to sell them into a life of misery and despair," Bolick wrote. "Please join me in saving our most precious resource by being on the side of saving children."

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and Senate candidate Kari Lake also called for voters to support the prop.

Arizonans also approved Prop 314, which empowers state and local law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants entering in between ports of entry. Furthermore, this measure allows state judges to issue deportation orders.

Additionally, the measure makes it a low-level felony to provide false information or documents for employment or public benefits. It also elevates the sale of fentanyl to a class 2 felony when such sales lead to a fatality.

Prop 314 is modeled after Texas' Senate Bill 4, which is currently tied up in the courts. Arizona's law will become active only if and when Texas' bill is declared constitutional by the Supreme Court.

Again, with Arizona's reporting only roughly halfway complete, the measure received more than 1.3 million votes, 62.8%.

Arizona state Sen. John Kavanagh, a co-sponsor of the prop, said, "We need Prop 314. The border is in chaos."

Brook Doty, chairman of the LD17 Republicans, urged voters to pass Prop 314.

"Ignore the gaslighting and vote yes," Doty declared. "Until the federal government decides to prioritize Americans over the needs of the rest of the world, Arizona must shoulder this burden to protect its own citizens."

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Traffickers pose as parents, drug children to ‘avoid detection’ while smuggling minors into US: Border Patrol



Customs and Border Protection agents reported two recent instances in which children were rescued after being drugged by traffickers who were attempting to smuggle them into the United States.

Executive Assistant Office of Field Operations Commissioner Diane Sabatino posted a video on social media on Thursday, announcing that Border Patrol agents in San Luis, Arizona, arrested Marlen Contreras-Lopez, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen and Arizona resident.

'Sometimes we encounter criminal actions so horrendous they defy human decency.'

When stopped at the border on August 29, Contreras-Lopez presented officers with birth certificates for two sleeping children, 8 and 11 years old, in her vehicle. She claimed that the minors were family members.

During the initial inspection with Border Patrol agents, Contreras-Lopez was unable to awaken the children, so she was referred to a secondary inspection, where she continued to “have difficulty waking the children.”

According to the officers who conducted the inspection, the children remained “extremely groggy.”

Court records obtained by the New York Post stated that one of the children had to be carried and the other “struggled to walk.”

While interviewing the minors, agents reportedly discovered that they were not related to Contreras-Lopez. While the birth certificates were legitimate, they apparently did not belong to the children, who were Mexican citizens.

“The children indicated to CBP officers that they were provided sleep aids in order to avoid detection,” Sabatino said.

According to the court documents, one of the children informed the officers that the other child was her brother and that they had taken a bus from their hometown in Mexico to the border town of San Luis Rio Colorado, where Contreras-Lopez had picked them up, the Post reported. The girl reportedly told agents that their mother was still in Mexico and that they were being taken to their mother’s boyfriend in the U.S.

The children were turned over to Mexican authorities.

— (@)

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief of California’s El Centro sector, told the Post about a separate similar incident that occurred within the past few weeks in which Border Patrol agents in California rescued a child who had been “heavily dosed with sleep aids to prevent him from talking” to law enforcement agents.

Bovino explained that officers discovered that the smugglers in that case were in possession of birth certificates for more children to whom they were not related.

“Sometimes we encounter criminal actions so horrendous they defy human decency,” Bovino told the Post.

In 2019, former President Donald Trump launched a rapid DNA testing pilot program at the southern border to further deter traffickers from smuggling children. The process involved cheek swabs that took approximately 90 minutes to obtain results. Within the initial three-day trial run, the program determined that 30% of illegal aliens arriving at the border with children they claimed were theirs were, in fact, not related. They were also ruled out as stepparents or adoptive parents. When the Biden-Harris administration took office, it ended the program.

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Mexican cartels use drones to transport drugs into El Paso, conduct surveillance



A federal official in El Paso, Texas, recently confirmed a Mexico law enforcement officer's statements claiming that cartels are deploying drones to transport narcotics into the United States, according to Border Report.

On Thursday, Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya stated that he is seeing an increase in drone use by Mexican drug cartels flying drugs into El Paso.

'We have 15 countermeasure devices against drones.'

He said, "In the area of the [Big Red X] monument, they have been using drones to cross packages of drugs and drop them off on the other side."

The monument, about 100 yards south of the border, is also known as Plaza de la Mexicanidad.

Loya also noted that the cartels in Juarez, Mexico, are using the drones to monitor law enforcement activity on both sides of the border and "as a guide to caravan the migrants into the United States," KTSM reported, translating his comments.

A U.S. federal official told Border Report that there have been drug-drone encounters in the area. However, the official could not provide any details about the number of drones or what types of narcotics are being transported.

The news outlet noted that Juarez cartels are primarily known for trafficking methamphetamine.

Despite confirmations from that official, the Border Report noted that federal officials in El Paso were unable to verify whether drones are crossing into the U.S. or whether they are being used to direct illegal immigrants.

Loya reported that his team has taken down a number of drones in the mountains of Chihuahua near the U.S.-Mexico border.

"We have 15 countermeasure devices against drones. Some force the drone to turn back, some cut off its signal entirely, so it falls to the ground, and some just track the drone to its base," he remarked.

Last month, a leaked bulletin reportedly from the U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma Sector Intelligence Unit warned that Mexican cartels were using drones to "drop explosives" on rival gangs, Blaze News previously reported.

Air Force General Gregory Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year that there were "over 1,000" drone incursions each month near the border.

"I haven't seen any of them manifest in a threat to the level of national defense, but I see the potential only growing," he told lawmakers.

While authorities report an increase in drone activity at the southern border, law enforcement officials in Juarez are attempting to stave off a cartel's attacks against their surveillance cameras, according to Border Report.

Loya told reporters on Thursday that authorities recently installed 11 cameras on the streets of Juarez to monitor the cartel's activities. Since then, members of the cartel have reportedly shot at the cameras and struck them with hammers. In another instance, they allegedly set a utility pole on fire to destroy the equipment.

"Organized crime feels threatened by this system that is being installed throughout the state," Loya stated.

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Former Santa Claus impersonator accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 5



A 78-year-old former Santa Claus impersonator is accused of sexually abusing girls as young as 5 years old and faces 13 counts of child abuse, according to authorities in North Carolina.

Bevier Hasbrouck Sleight III was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact, offensive touching, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor on Aug. 29.

'I'm just amazed and shocked.'

Law&Crime reported that Sleight sexually abused two girls between March 2023 and March 2024. Sleight performed oral sex and digitally penetrated the girls aged 5 and 6, according to the criminal complaint.

Court records said the alleged crimes took place at Sleight's home, which is less than a mile from Santa’s Land Fun Park and Zoo in Cherokee.

Sleight, who sports a long white beard, reportedly had portrayed Santa Claus at Santa’s Land Fun Park and Zoo.

The Christmas-themed amusement park says on its website: “Your kids will be excited to visit Santa at his own summer home in the Great Smoky Mountains. They can sit with and tell Santa all their Christmas wishes, and will receive their own ‘Good Conduct Diploma'!"

An anonymous grandparent reportedly brought a grandson to Santa's Land on Aug. 24 but is now "disgusted" because the grandparent gave the child's name and address to receive a letter from Santa Claus.

“It was just a good memory for me with my grandparents to go, and I wanted to make those memories with my grandson,” the grandparent told WLOS. “I’m like, 'Hey let’s go see Santa,' so we went into Santa’s house. He stood in there and talked to [my grandchild] for a little while."

At the end of the visit, they were asked if they wanted to purchase a letter from Santa to be sent to the boy around Christmas time. They agreed and wrote the grandchild's name and address on an envelope.

The grandparent said, “Who wouldn’t want a surprise letter from Santa Claus?”

The grandparent added, “I was disgusted, you know, and then it was just instantly, 'I want my envelope back, I don’t want him being exposed to my grandson's address.' It’s disgusting, it sickens me, and to know that he’s doing this to young children who are right around my grandson's age.”

Sleight’s arrest for child sex crimes floored local residents.

“I'm just amazed and shocked. I would have never thought that,” neighbor Kim Lambert told WLOS. “I have a lot of grandchildren. So, it’s very shocking. He’s just really always been a super nice person.”

Santa's Land Fun Park and Zoo confirmed to the New York Post that Sleight no longer works there. However, the amusement park did not provide Sleight's final date of employment.

A spokesperson at Santa's Land told WOLS the park has no comment at this time.

WLOS reported there was a connection between Sleight and a woman who recently was arrested for an alleged violent act of child abuse.

On June 5, Caroline Roland was arrested and charged with 11 counts, including child abuse, maiming, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and inflicting serious injury.

Roland severely injured a 5-year-old girl by smashing the child’s hands on a table, causing “multiple broken bones to each hand on multiple different digits,” according to court documents obtained by WLOS.

Roland, 39, allegedly picked up the girl and threw her to the ground and repeatedly slammed her face into the floor until she stopped breathing.

The child needed CPR to be resuscitated and required an emergency craniotomy, according to the criminal complaint. The girl allegedly suffered a brain hemorrhage and additional injuries were found all over her body at the hospital.

According to WLOS, the Cherokee Indian Police Department said Sleight was a "customer" of Roland, who allegedly ran a child trafficking ring. However, neither suspect is currently facing any trafficking-related charges.

Police told WLOS that the trafficking investigation is ongoing.

Roland remains in the Cherokee County Detention Center, and her next court date is scheduled for Oct. 23.

Police said Sleight is not out on bond, but court documents showed there is a secured bond set at $75,000 with electronic monitoring.

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Report: Biden-Harris Administration Has Lost Track Of Up To 300,000 Ilegal Alien Kids

Biden's Border Czar is going to need a bigger bag of Doritos to deal with the consequences of her big border debacle.

‘Pull Off A Leg Or Two’: Planned Parenthood Staff Discuss Harvesting Baby Parts In Unsealed Footage

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-09-at-6.47.06 AM-e1723204094193-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Screenshot-2024-08-09-at-6.47.06%5Cu202fAM-e1723204094193-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Newly unsealed footage that had previously been seized by Kamala Harris shows Planned Parenthood staff discuss harvesting baby parts and organs.

US mom allegedly paid to smuggle children across the border with plans to drop them off at undisclosed location: Report



A couple was recently arrested after they allegedly received money to smuggle two foreign children across the United States border and drop them off at an undisclosed address, according to Border Report.

Laura Aracely Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen and mother, was accused of trafficking two young Mexican children into the country last month. Rodriguez was accompanied by her husband, Cristian Velez Gutierrez, their daughter, and grandchild.

'The lady is driving me to be reunited with my parents.'

After crossing the border, Rodriguez was stopped by Border Patrol agents at a tactical highway checkpoint near Westmoreland, California. When asked for identification, Rodriguez provided her U.S. passport card, and Gutierrez, a legal permanent resident, handed over his green card documentation. The couple told law enforcement officers that they were on their way to a nearby shopping center.

Border Patrol agents also observed two young boys inside the vehicle, which the couple claimed were also their children. However, officers requested a secondary inspection after Gutierrez began stuttering and looking away, Border Report stated.

While conducting a more thorough inspection, the older of the two boys told Border Patrol agents, "The lady is driving me to be reunited with my parents."

When confronted, Rodriguez admitted that the boys were not her children but that she had been paid $6,000 to transport them from Mexicali, Mexico, to an undisclosed address in Indio, California, according to a complaint affidavit reviewed by Border Report. It is not clear who made the request or paid Rodriguez to smuggle the children.

Rodriguez stated that she used her children's identity documents to get the two boys across the border into California. Because the children were asleep at the time they reached the port of entry, they were not questioned by Border Patrol agents.

Gutierrez reportedly admitted to law enforcement agents that he was aware that the boys were not legally allowed to enter the U.S. He stated that he joined his wife on the journey "so that she would not be alone," according to the court records.

The couple was arrested, and Rodriguez entered a not-guilty plea on August 1. Their underage daughter was released from custody.

According to Office of Refugee Resettlement records obtained by Border Report, the older boy was released to "a parent or guardian" in the U.S. to serve as a witness in the case.

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NGO responds to allegations it subjected children to ‘repeated’ sexual abuse



A recent Department of Justice lawsuit accused a prominent nongovernmental organization of subjecting unaccompanied children to “repeated” sexual abuse and harassment. The nonprofit responded to the allegations, claiming that the DOJ's complaint "does not present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children."

Southwest Key Programs, a Texas-based nonprofit, partners with the Department of Health and Human Services to provide housing to minors who unlawfully cross into the United States without a parent or guardian. According to its website, the organization is “an integral partner in the U.S. response to the immigration crisis at our southern border.”

'The child’s accounts were partially corroborated by video footage.'

The DOJ’s lawsuit claimed, “From at least 2015 through at least 2023, multiple Southwest Key employees have subjected unaccompanied children in their care to repeated and unwelcome sexual abuse, harassment, and misconduct and a hostile housing environment, including severe sexual abuse and rape, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for sexually inappropriate relationships, sexual comments and gestures, leering, and inappropriate touching.”

The suit alleged that some of the children were “threatened” by the employees to “maintain their silence” about the abuse. The organization was accused of “fail[ing] to take appropriate action to protect the children in its care.”

According to the DOJ, the children impacted by the alleged abuse were as young as 5 years old.

After unaccompanied minors are apprehended by Border Patrol at the southern border, they are placed with the HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for providing humanitarian care and housing. The agency partners with several NGOs to provide these services, including Southwest Key.

As part of its partnership with the federal government, the HHS provides NGOs with grants funded by American taxpayers.

The DOJ’s complaint noted that Southwest Key is “the largest private care provider of housing for unaccompanied children in the United States.” The NGO operated 29 shelters, accommodating roughly 6,350 children.

“Between fiscal years 2015 and 2023, Southwest Key received over three billion dollars in funding from HHS,” it added.

During that period of time, the organization received complaints of sexual abuse and harassment “at the majority” of its facilities, the DOJ claimed.

In one instance in 2022, an 8-year-old girl reported that a Southwest Key youth care worker “repeatedly” entered her bedroom at night to abuse her. The worker was also accused of inappropriately touching a 5-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl. He allegedly “threatened to kill their families if they disclosed the abuse.”

In 2019, a teenage girl passed a note to her teacher stating that a shift leader had “repeatedly raped, abused, and threatened” her.

“She reported she believed that Southwest Key employees were covering to protect the Shift Leader because, among other things, he would regularly switch assignments with other staff so that he could be alone with her,” the DOJ’s lawsuit read. “The child’s accounts were partially corroborated by video footage of the Shift Leader entering her bedroom and her journal documenting abuse. In addition, employees observed the Shift Leader’s failure to follow bedroom check policy and routinely entering the child’s bedroom (as well as entering other children’s bedrooms) for periods of time without other employees present.”

The DOJ’s complaint listed numerous other incidents of sexual abuse and harassment allegedly committed by the NGO’s employees. It is unclear how many children were allegedly subjected to the abuse.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated, “HHS has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, inappropriate sexual behavior, and discrimination.”

“The U.S. Department of Justice’s complaint against Southwest Key raises serious pattern or practice concerns. HHS will continue to work with the Justice Department and oversight agencies to hold its care-giving programs like Southwest Key accountable. And we will continue to closely evaluate our assignment of children into care-giving programs to ensure the safety and well-being of every child in HHS custody,” Becerra added.

The HHS’ Administration for Children and Families declined the Daily Caller New Foundation’s request for comment, deferring to the DOJ, which also declined to comment.

Blaze News reported on the allegations against Southwest Key last week, but at that time, the NGO had not publicly commented on the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Southwest Key has since told the DCNF that it still partners with the HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.

“Southwest Key Programs’ primary focus is the safety, health, and well-being of each one of the children and youth we care for,” the spokesperson told the DCNF. “We continue to review the complaint, and it does not present the accurate picture of the care and commitment our employees provide to the youth and children.”

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Tennessee set to pass law targeting groomers who recruit and transport kids for sex changes without parental consent



Democrats and other radicals across the country appear keen to enable ideologues to both socially and medically transition children behind parents' backs despite warnings from scientists, indications that such barbaric practices are based on pseudoscience, and other Western nations beginning to pump the brakes.

In New York, for instance, voters will be given the option on Nov. 5 to sign off on an amendment to the state constitution, which critics suggest would require medical providers to "facilitate a child's request to make permanent, life-altering 'gender affirming' decisions" without first consulting with parents.

On Tuesday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) ratified LD 227, dubbed the "Transgender Trafficker Protection Act" by critics. Blaze News previously reported that the controversial law codifies the right to sex-change mutilations and abortion in Maine, shields sex-change surgeons from consequence, and bars authorities from notifying parents of the locations of their kidnapped children if those kids are said to be seeking "gender-affirming care" in the state. Republican Attorneys General from various states have indicated they will take legal action against Maine over the law.

Amid this controversial campaign to expose confused children to regrettable genital mutilations, Republicans in Tennessee have mounted a counter-offensive — a sword in response to Democrats' so-called transgender shield laws.

The state legislature passed Senate Bill 2782 this week, which is effectively an anti-trafficking bill that creates a civil cause of action against any adult who recruits, harbors, or transports someone else's unemancipated child out of state without the consent of the kid's parents or guardian for the purpose of getting them sex-change medical procedures.

State Sen. Mark Pody (R), one of the bill's sponsors, reportedly indicated the legislation originally would have included criminal penalties for surgery-seeking traffickers, but those were dropped in committee.

The amended bill passed the Tennessee Senate in a 26-4 vote along party lines earlier this month. The state House, which had a mirror version, gave its final approval to the legislation Thursday in a 63-16 vote.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R), who previously ratified a law barring health care providers from mutilating children's genitals and administering them puberty blockers, is expected to ratify the legislation.

Human Rights Campaign, a powerful LGBT activist outfit, condemned SB 2782 ahead of Thursday's vote, suggesting it was part of a "tsunami of discriminatory legislation follow[ing] a brutal cadence of discriminatory laws enacted in recent years."

The HRC cited a number of other recent Republican legislative successes in the Volunteer State such as "the business bathroom sign law and the drag ban," noting also that "Tennessee has repeatedly banned transgender students from playing school sports, forbidden students from using the correct bathroom at school, allowed government contractors providing child welfare services to discriminate with taxpayer dollars, restricted transgender youth from accessing age-appropriate, medically necessary health care, attempted to undo marriage equality, and more."

SB 2782 may ultimately deter prospective traffickers from exposing children to treatments that Britain's National Health Services are now reevaluating. The NHS is taking a step back in the wake of a damning investigation it commissioned, which revealed:

  • there is "no clear evidence that social transition in childhood has any positive or negative mental health outcomes";
  • puberty blockers compromise bone density and have no apparent impact on "gender dysphoria or body satisfaction";
  • there is "a lack of high-quality research assessing the outcomes of hormone interventions in adolescents with gender dysphoria/incongruence, and few studies that undertake long-term follow-up";
  • clinicians are incapable of determining which prospective child victims might alternatively grow out of their confusion; and
  • an absence of "good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress."

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