Rep. Anna Paulina Luna introduced two immigration bills to tackle fake migrant and child trafficking at the southern border while increasing penalties for employers hiring ineligible workers.
“Today, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) introduced a legislative package that aims to combat child trafficking and the hiring of illegal migrants in our country,” Luna said in a press release Friday.
The first bill, the Family Reunification Act, will mandate rapid DNA testing for all families detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.
It also seeks to verify familial relationships and stop child trafficking. The policy was initially enacted by President Donald Trump but discontinued under Joe Biden.
“DNA rapid testing works, and it’s time to bring it back for every ‘family’ crossing the border,” Luna 1805012579267551362 on X.
“Until that happens, the U.S. government is complicit in trafficking. Under Joe Biden’s watch, over 85,000 children have gone missing. We need accountability.”
Under Luna’s bill, if a child and adult are determined unrelated via DNA testing, the child would be separated from the adult while investigators probe whoever is trying to smuggle the child.
The second bill – the Illegal Labor Accountability Act – aims to increase penalties for businesses that employ illegal immigrants and also those who facilitate the trafficking of children for forced labor.
The news of the bill follows revelations about child exploitation in the United States.
“Under the Biden administration, almost two and a half million people have crossed our borders illegally while claiming to be part of a family unit,” said Luna.
“Many of the children in these ‘family units’ are victims of trafficking and forced labor,” she added.
“We have greedy companies unlawfully hiring illegals, both adults and children, for cheap labor instead of hiring Americans.”
“Not only are they exploiting these immigrants, but they are not being properly held accountable for it. We need to put an end to this.”
Read the FULL press release below:
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Tara Lee Rodas, a whistleblower who volunteered for the Joe Biden administration, testified that she discovered that “children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that begins with recruiting in [their] home country, smuggling to the U.S. border, and ends when ORR delivers a child to a sponsor. Some sponsors are criminals and traffickers … some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income. This is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking.”
The Federal Human Trafficking Report estimated that in 2018, 51.6% of the human trafficking cases active in the United States were sex trafficking cases involving only children. In June 2023 alone, the Biden administration released more than 340 migrant kids to live with nonrelatives, and from 2021 to 2023, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services could not locate more than 85,000 children they had sent to live with sponsors. Last year, the Department of Labour investigated reports of migrant children who were being used to clean slaughterhouses. Furthermore, The New York Times spoke to over 100 migrant child workers who described their jobs as “grinding them into exhaustion” and that they had “become trapped in circumstances they never could have imagined.”
These examples show the exploitation of children in our country and how the Biden administration has actively contributed to making it worse. Congresswoman Luna will continue using all available resources to end these horrifying practices while shedding light on these issues.
The Family Reunification Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and Don Bacon (NE-02).
You can read the bill text for the Family Reunification Act here: https://luna.house.gov/Family-Reunification-Act/
The Illegal Labor Accountability Act is co-sponsored by Representatives Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Andy Biggs (AZ-05), and Randy Weber (TX-14).
You can read the bill text for the Illegal Labor Accountability Act here: https://luna.house.gov/Illegal-Labor-Accountability-Act
