Coyotes buy advertisements on radio stations in Guatemala convincing parents to send their children to the U.S. alone in order to exploit the loophole in U.S. policy that removes all threat of deportation if they are “unaccompanied alien children.”But once they cross the U.S., the cartel exploits the children.
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Guatemalan human traffickers may be taking advantage of the Biden administration’s resettlement program for unaccompanied alien children, records from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whistleblowers suggest.
The whistleblowers, who believed HHS routinely facilitated unsafe placements of children, provided documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Grassley used the documents to compile a detailed criminal referral to the FBI. The whistleblowers say the government has long been aware of red flags in the migrant resettlement program, but that HHS leaders press employees to simply quickly deliver children to adults to live with, not question whether those adults are really related or will provide a safe environment.