2-year-old crosses border alone seeking parents in US, heartbreaking video from Texas DPS shows



The Texas Department of Public Safety shared heartbreaking videos on Sunday showing dozens of unaccompanied children who had recently crossed the southern border into the United States.

Among the group of 60 children was a 2-year-old girl who told law enforcement officers that she had journeyed alone and was hoping to be reunited with her parents in the U.S. In the video, the child clutched a piece of paper, which she extended toward the officers. Inscribed on the note was a name and phone number.

'Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks.'

An officer asked the child, "Did you come by yourself?"

She nodded her head in the affirmative.

"How old are you?" the officer inquired.

The child held up a couple of fingers and responded, "Two."

When asked where she was going, she replied, "With my mom and dad," who she stated were in the U.S.

The heart-wrenching video was shared by Texas DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez, who also posted two other clips showing unaccompanied minors lined up near the southern border, presumably while awaiting processing. Going down the rows, the children shared their age, country of origin, and their intended destination in the U.S.

Olivarez posted photographs of several "special interest immigrants" who appeared to arrive with the group of children.

He wrote on X, "This morning, @TxDPS encountered a group of 211 illegal immigrants in Maverick County. Among the group were 60 unaccompanied children/minors ages 2 - 17 and 6 special interest immigrants from Mali & Angola."

"This is a stark example of the precarious journey these children make from their home country & how criminal organizations traffic these children across the southern border & further into the interior," Olivarez continued. "Regardless of political views, it is unacceptable for any child to be exposed to dangerous criminal trafficking networks."

He explained that "hundreds of thousands" of children have gone missing during their journeys to the U.S., noting that "no one [is] ensuring the safety & security of these children except for the men & women who are on the frontlines daily."

"Despite the criticism over the years, the reality is that many children are exploited & trafficked, never to be heard from again," he added.

Texas DPS has rescued more than 900 children as a part of Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star, Olivarez said.

According to Customs and Border Protection data, more than 110,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border in fiscal year 2024.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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.

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.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden admin is ‘complicit’ in trafficking of unaccompanied minors: Gov’t whistleblowers



Federal government whistleblowers told senators on Tuesday that the Biden administration's Office of Refugee Resettlement, within the Department of Health and Human Services, likely placed unaccompanied minors with child traffickers, neglecting to properly vet sponsors.

Deborah White and Tara Rodas, federal employees, stated that they first discovered that the ORR was placing children in "dangerous" situations in June 2021.

'The most horrific injustice.'

After minors cross the border, Customs and Border Protection places unaccompanied children in the custody of HHS' ORR. It is the department's responsibility to find and vet sponsors to look after the minors. Its order of preference is first to try to turn the children over to parents or a legal guardian; however, according to Tuesday's testimony to the panel of senators, this rarely occurs.

"What I discovered was horrifying: children were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely, with government officials complicit in it," White stated. "Children were sent to addresses that were abandoned houses or nonexistent in some cases."

"In Michigan, a child was sent to an open field, even after we reported making an [sic] 911 call after hearing someone screaming for help, yet the child was still sent," White continued. "When I raised concerns about contractor failures and asked to see the contract I was told, 'You're not gonna get the contract and don't ask for it again.' So I took it upon myself to create trainings for significant incident reports of sexual abuse and for flagging trafficking, in order to equip case managers."

According to White, despite reporting her concerns, the children continued to be sent to "dangerous places."

"When we questioned documents, HHS ORR leadership said, 'You're not fake ID experts, and your job is not to investigate the sponsor. Your job is to reunify the child with the sponsor,'" White said.

Rodas told senators that the ORR did not meet with sponsors in person and noted that children were being placed with "random people."

She explained that a 16-year-old girl from Guatemala was placed with a man who claimed to be the child's brother, but it was "clear" that he was not. The female "looked drugged" and like "she was for sale" in pictures posted to the male's social media. She added that the male was "touching her inappropriately" and possessed other accounts on social media that contained child pornography.

Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris claimed that only 10% of unaccompanied minors are placed with their parents.

"It defies logic and is inhumane," Harris remarked.

Both White and Rodas claimed that the ORR and Cherokee Federal, a taxpayer-funded contractor tasked with resettling the unaccompanied children, ignored warning signs of potential trafficking operations.

White stated that Cherokee Federal staffed "several unqualified unvetted and quite frankly dangerous contractors with access to vulnerable children that did not get the appropriate support, services, or humanity they deserved after a most treacherous journey."

She added that the stories she has heard from some of the children "will haunt me for the rest of my life."

"HHS ORR leadership and the contractor allowed children to be trafficked on their watch and the taxpayers continue to fund it," White said, calling the department's program "the biggest failure in government history."

"This is the most horrific injustice against children that I have witnessed in my entire federal career," Rodas declared.

Neither HHS nor Cherokee Federal responded to a request for comment from the Post.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden admin placed unaccompanied immigrant children in 'unregulated and unsafe' living conditions: Report



The Biden administration placed unaccompanied immigrant minors in homes that were not deemed safe by caseworkers, according to a Monday report from the Wall Street Journal.

The news outlet found that the administration "repeatedly overrode the concerns of lower-level workers," placing children with guardians who had previously been rejected.

In the first eight months of fiscal year 2024, there were more than 83,000 unaccompanied minor encounters nationwide, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Two sources told the WSJ that emergency shelter caseworkers under the Biden administration have been instructed to place children in a home within 10 to 14 days.

As a result of the pressure to move children through the system as quickly as possible, some minors were placed in homes with ties to criminal activity, the report stated.

One child was moved to a "hostel-like" Florida home with three or more adults even after a caseworker recommended against it, according to internal government memos reviewed by the WSJ.

"It does not appear safe for the minor to be released to a home environment that was not fully assessed," the caseworker wrote. Those concerns were ultimately ignored.

Many of the denial reversals initiated by the Biden administration provided little detail as to why the guardians were later approved, the news outlet stated.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services told the WSJ it cannot comment on individual cases but added, "Child welfare best-practices are clear that children belong with family and not in shelters."

The HHS oversaw a network of shelters that provided care to the unaccompanied minors.

An HHS Office of Inspector General report published earlier this year found "gaps" in the department's guardian screening process, Blaze News previously reported.

"In 16 percent of children's case files, one or more required sponsor safety checks lacked any documentation indicating that the checkers were conducted," the OIG report stated. "For 19 percent of children who were released to sponsors with pending FBI fingerprint or State child abuse and neglect registry checks, children's case files were never updated with the results."

Neha Desai, the senior director of immigration at the National Center for Youth Law, told the news outlet, "Although well-intentioned, these sites were unregulated and unsafe."

"There was enormous pressure placed on the sites to rapidly release children from custody," she added.

In one instance, caseworkers found allegedly different sponsors residing at multiple addresses with ties to the same individual, the news outlet reported. Supervisors warned that it could be an indicator that the sponsor is recruiting children for labor trafficking.

One senior HHS official told the WSJ, "We're in a completely different place than we were when we started."

"We were stuck with what we had when we started on day one, which unfortunately did not set us up to be able to meet the challenges that we faced in 2021," the official remarked.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

How The U.S. Federal Government Fuels Child Smuggling And Trafficking

For the right price, the cartels will transport people to the U.S. southern border and present them to the Border Patrol as children.

Biden administration diverts $2 billion in emergency COVID-19 funds to house migrant children at the border



The Biden administration pulled over $2 billion that was meant for COVID-19 health resources such as coronavirus testing and emergency medical supplies, and diverted the American taxpayer money to the current border crisis. President Joe Biden's Department of Health and Human Services sunk the funds into housing for the over 47,000 unaccompanied minors who have flooded across the U.S. southern border this year.

"The redirected funds include $850 million that Congress originally allocated to rebuild the nation's Strategic National Stockpile, the emergency medical reserve strained by the Covid-19 response," Politico reported on Saturday. "Another $850 million is being taken from a pot intended to help expand coronavirus testing, according to three people with knowledge of the matter."

Health and Human Services reportedly pulled about $436 million from a "range of existing health initiatives across the department."

The Biden administration yanked the money away from a fund that was intended to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile, which builds up a reserve of health "supplies, medicines, and devices for lifesaving care" so that there are plenty of health resources available in the event of a national health emergency such as the coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time, Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra petitioned Congress to grant another $905 million for the Strategic National Stockpile. Becerra said the SNS needs money for "personal protective equipment, ventilators, and medical supplies" to prepare for the "next public health crisis" or if the COVID-19 pandemic gets out of control again.

Politico noted that a total of $2.13 billion has been diverted from coronavirus health initiatives and been poured into the border crisis, which "exceeds the government's annual budget for the unaccompanied children program in each of the last two fiscal years."

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) reacted to the reallocation of coronavirus funds to the migrant crisis by telling the New York Post, "The president single-handedly created this crisis and is now misplacing billions in taxpayers' money. The answer to every problem is not to throw money at it."

The constant and overwhelming flow of migrants across the border has been a financial nightmare for the Biden administration, which has shelled out $86 million in contracts to house 1,200 migrant families in U.S. hotels. A report from earlier this month found that the Biden administration anted up $3 billion to house unaccompanied children since February. Analysis from the Washington Post in April revealed the Biden administration is spending $60 million a week to shelter migrant minors in federal facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

In April, the highest number in two decades of migrants crossed the U.S. border.

Border Democrat accuses Biden of playing a 'shell game' to mislead the public on unaccompanied minors



Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, a Democrat, accused the Biden administration of playing a "shell game" with the unaccompanied minors captured at the border in order to mislead the public.

Cuellar's comments were included in a report about the migrant children from NBC Nightly News published Thursday.

"What they're doing now is they're moving the kids from the border patrol tents over to, next door, to the HHS facility," said Cuellar to reporter Gabe Gutierrez.

"With all due respect, it's all been a shell game," he added.

NBC reported that the numbers reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security corroborated Cuellar's criticism.

According to those statistics, the number of unaccompanied migrant children in the custody of Border Patrol has plummeted to only 749 kids. But at the same time the number of those children in the custody of HHS has skyrocketed to 21,484.

While the Biden administration has denied that there's any crisis at the border and President Biden has claimed that the increased numbers are simply expected seasonal spikes, the statistics tell a different story.

NBC reported that as many as 160,000 unaccompanied minors were expected to cross the border in 2021, a record number.

Local law enforcement officials say other crimes at the border are skyrocketing, including drug smuggling and human trafficking.

"The numbers have been historic," said Lt. Christopher Olivarez with the Texas Department of Public Safety. "as far as illegal crossings and now, stash houses and criminal activity, so by far from previous years we are seeing a dramatic increase in those activities."

Cuellar has previously spoken out against the more lax border policies of the Biden administration. In March he warned that criminals would use the comments made by Biden to encourage more illegal immigration.

"The bad guys know how to market this," Cuellar said at the time.

Here's the report from NBC Nightly News:

NBC Nightly News Broadcast (Full) - May 6th, 2021 | NBC Nightly Newsyoutu.be

Biden administration has reportedly spent $3 billion in taxpayer money to house unaccompanied minors since February



A new report reveals the federal government has spent $3 billion to house tens of thousands of migrant children who crossed the U.S. southern border shortly after President Joe Biden was sworn in. The Biden administration has saddled American taxpayers with the eye-raising costs of housing unaccompanied minors during the current border crisis.

Since February, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded the largest contracts, worth more than $2 billion in taxpayer money, to a nonprofit and two companies. The recipients of the huge contracts were New York-based Deployed Resources LLC; Family Endeavors Inc. of San Antonio; and Rapid Deployment Inc., based in Mobile, Alabama. The massive contracts were awarded to the organizations without any bidding process, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Deployed Resources was awarded a $719 million contract by the Biden administration to establish a 1,500-bed emergency shelter for children in Donna, Texas. In March, photos surfaced from the Donna facility that showed packed conditions that one Democratic lawmaker described as "terrible conditions for the children." Government officials attempted to prevent Republican senators from taking photos of the conditions of the migrant facility.

Rapid Deployment Inc. was granted two substantial contracts totaling $614 million to manage a site at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

Family Endeavors Inc., a nonprofit that offers "migrant wellness support," could receive up to $580 million for managing a facility for unaccompanied children in Pecos, Texas. In March, it was revealed that the Biden administration awarded Family Endeavors an $87 million contract to provide hotel rooms to 1,200 migrant families who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The potential amount of the latest contract is more than 13 times the organization's total revenue during 2018, according to the latest annual tax filings available," the AP said of Family Endeavors.

There were 18,663 unaccompanied minors encountered at the U.S. southern border in March, the highest number ever recorded – shattering the previous highs of 11,475 in May 2019 and 10,620 in June 2014.

Nearly 25,000 migrant children were in the custody of the U.S. federal government, apart from their families, in early May, according to the Washington Examiner.

Analysis from the Washington Post in April found that the Biden administration is spending $60 million a week to house migrant minors in federal facilities operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kamala Harris children's book placed in care packages for unaccompanied migrant kids — but White House denies involvement



While a children's book penned by Vice President Kamala Harris has been placed in care packages for unaccompanied migrant children, the White House has denied involvement, Newsweek reported.

What are the details?

Photos have spread online of "Superheroes Are Everywhere" in packets at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in California, which has been tapped as an influx facility, but a White House official told the magazine that it's part of a community-organized donation effort to collect books and toys — and that Harris had no idea her book would be included.

Copy of Kamala Harris's book spotted at migrant children's shelter in California https://t.co/J7mOBqApVD
— Jason Miller (@Jason Miller)1619296694.0

Newsweek said the city of Long Beach didn't immediately respond to its request for comment.

Fox News' Peter Doocy on Monday asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki about the books and whether Harris is getting any money for distributed copies — to little avail:

NEW - Psaki to circle back on why immigrant children were being given copies of Kamala Harris' book. https://t.co/aSPQYMsdSx
— Disclose.tv 🚨 (@Disclose.tv 🚨)1619460611.0

Psaki said she'd have to check on the reports — but that she hears "it's a good book."

Fox News' Laura Ingraham quipped on Twitter that "forcing the migrants to read VP Kamala Harris's book may be an innovative way to get them to self-deport."

More pushback

Republicans have criticized the inclusion of Harris' book in the care packages — particularly because she hasn't visited the border despite President Joe Biden having designated Harris a point person on handling the crisis there.

GOP U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina had this to say Monday:

Kamala is now saying “we’re making progress” on Biden’s border crisisReally? Is a 900% increase in apprehensions… https://t.co/mEEjRCLDK8
— Madison Cawthorn (@Madison Cawthorn)1619448875.0

"Kamala is now saying 'we're making progress' on Biden's border crisis," he tweeted. "Really? Is a 900% increase in apprehensions from last year and a 233% increase in fentanyl smuggling 'progress' to you? She must be referring to her progress on book sales..."

Fox News also reported that a White House official said Harris wasn't aware of the welcome packs. The cable network added that up to 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children from Mexico can be housed at the facility.

Both Fox News and Newsweek said Health and Human Services could not be reached for comment on who is purchasing the books for the children.

Anything else?

The Biden administration reportedly is planning to increase the number of illegal immigrants released into the United States despite this crisis surrounding the historic influx, a Fox News report said.

And while Biden finally admitted there is a crisis on the border recently, his own administration walked back his remarks by saying the word "crisis" is not reflective of the "administration's official position," but rather the situation is a "challenge."