Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused the Biden administration of deliberately ignoring tens of thousands of reports of sexual abuse and human trafficking targeting migrant children, saying his department is now actively pursuing the cases the previous administration shelved.
“We’re going to enforce our nation’s laws, and we’re going to right the wrongs that the Biden administration turned a blind eye to,” Mullin said at a joint press conference with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “It’s horrific to what’s happening right in our own country because of four years of a blind eye.”
The numbers released Thursday are stark. Data obtained last year by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) from the Department of Health and Human Services showed that 65,605 reports concerning migrant children were dismissed or ignored under Biden, including 7,346 cases flagged as potential human trafficking. Within the first 100 days of the Trump administration taking office, federal prosecutors had opened dozens of investigations from the previously inactive case files.
Acting Attorney General Blanche announced Thursday that three Guatemalan nationals had been indicted in the Northern District of Ohio for allegedly conspiring to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States. Blanche said the case is far from isolated.
“This is one example, one indictment, but it is not unique. There are over 15,500 super-sponsor cases that we have identified along with DHS,” Blanche said. Super-sponsor cases are defined as individuals who sponsor three or more unrelated migrant children.
Mullin said the administration has located 146,000 migrant children since taking office. He described accounts of repeated abuse in blunt terms, saying some of the recovered children reported being raped more than 600 times.
Under the Biden administration, 450,000 migrant children were released to unvetted sponsors, Mullin said. A 2021 HHS Office of Inspector General report found that 19 percent of sponsors never received FBI fingerprint checks or state child abuse and neglect registry screenings before children were released into their custody.
“What’s inhumane about taking care of our kids?” Mullin asked. “As a father of six with three young girls, I’ll do whatever I have to do. I will move heaven and hell to go find these kids.”
“We’re going to bring you to justice. We’re going to charge you, and we’re going to work side by side with Todd Blanche and DOJ to make sure you pay for your crimes,” Mullin added.
