United States Representative Jim Banks (R-Indiana) recently confronted Biden’s secretary of health and human services, Xavier Becerra, about non-governmental organizations raking in massive profits from human trafficking, including child smuggling, due to the administration’s open border crisis.
In a statement to Blaze News, Banks said, “Illegal human traffickers are making billions in profits and Joe Biden is sending their NGO accomplices billions of your tax dollars every year. The Biden border crisis is a racket. Democrat activists and Mexican cartels get rich, American taxpayers get ripped off, and foreign children suffer.”
‘I think that’s shameful, it’s sickening.’
During the House Committee on Education and the Workforce hearing on Wednesday, Banks pressed Becerra for details regarding the department’s policies concerning unaccompanied minors who have been illegally trafficked across the border.
“Mr. Secretary, the number of children who have come across our southern border on your watch and Joe Biden’s watch is estimated at 481,535,” Banks told Becerra. “The New York Times says that your department has lost contact with 85,000 minors, and that statistic is over a year old, so undoubtedly it has risen in the past year.”
In Banks’ comments to Becerra, he referenced a report last year from the New York Times, which was based on testimony provided by HHS whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas, who stated that the department has “lost immediate contact with” hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children who were smuggled into the country illegally.
“Congressional Research Service says that 75 to 80% of unaccompanied children are now traveling with smugglers, and those smugglers have reportedly sold migrants into situations of forced labor or prostitution — forms of human trafficking — in order to recover their costs,” Banks continued. “The Coalition Against Trafficking and Women says that 60% of unaccompanied children caught by cartels and exploited are exploited through child pornography and drug trafficking.”
Banks asked Becerra whether it was the Biden administration’s policy to return unaccompanied minors to their families in their home country or to send them into the United States to so-called sponsors.
Becerra claimed that the administration is following the laws currently in place regarding asylum claims.
“Let me ask this a different way. If a 15-year-old girl came across the border from, say, Guatemala, would we send her back to her family in Guatemala, or would we keep her in the United States?” Banks questioned.
Becerra replied, “If she requested an asylum hearing, we would, by law, be required to offer her a hearing.”
Banks further pressed the HHS secretary about how many unaccompanied minors the Biden administration has returned to their families.
“That would not be something I have information on,” Becerra responded. “I’m not gonna speculate, but that’s something that you can ask the Department of Homeland Security.”
“You and I both know the answer to that’s zero. Zero children that you’ve returned back to [their home] country,” Banks remarked.
Becerra stated that the department has to “respect what the law says, and the law says you have to provide someone with an adjudication of their claim for asylum.”
A recent report from the Free Press found that NGOs are making substantial profits from the administration’s open border crisis, particularly from the trafficking of unaccompanied minors.
Three prominent NGOs, including Global Refuge, Southwest Key Programs, and Endeavors, Inc., have massively increased their combined revenue in recent years. In 2019, the three organizations received $597 million compared to $2 billion in 2022. The CEOs at each of the NGOs make over $500,000 per year.
NGOs received generous federal grants to provide services to unaccompanied minors such as pet therapy, music therapy, and “people-plant interaction” or “horticulture therapy.”
Banks questioned Becerra about the administration using massive amounts of taxpayer funds to support the NGOs.
“I think the reason that you’re doing this, Mr. Secretary, and your boss, Joe Biden, is because Democrats are getting rich off of it,” Banks declared.
“The Global Refuge CEO and NGO that you funnel a lot of money to, her salary is $520,000, and it doubled over three years. The former CEO of an NGO called Southwest Key Programs made three and a half million dollars,” Banks continued. “The new CEO makes a million. The CEO of Endeavors, who was an Obama administration aide, made $600,000 in 2022. A former Biden transition official who helped you vet political appointees helped Endeavor secure a $520 billion, no-bid contract. These groups are making hundreds of millions of dollars, and now you are asking us to give you $9.3 billion to funnel to more of these NGOs so that your Democrat friends and donors can get even more rich.”
“I think that’s shameful, it’s sickening, and I’m going to do everything I can to fight against it,” Banks told Becerra.
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