DHS and ICE must be defunded, I think I see a reason why

Canada #90

ICE, CBP, and Federal Agencies Combating Child Trafficking from Mexico

by Antonio Graceffo Mar. 14, 2026

ICE enforcement operations are widely understood as a deportation mechanism, but the agency’s mandate extends well beyond removing illegal aliens from the country. As ICE and its partner agencies conduct raids and sweeps, they frequently uncover human-trafficking networks, rescue victims, and open new criminal investigations, including cases involving children trafficked from Mexico into the United States.

These operations are often carried out through coordinated, multi-agency task forces that bring together ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, the U.S. Marshals Service, the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and state and local law enforcement to target exploitation networks operating across the southern border.

The scale of the trafficking problem is closely tied to the surge of unaccompanied minors entering the United States. Under the Biden-Harris administration, Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 526,000 unaccompanied alien children at the southwest border, more than twice the number encountered under the Obama and Trump administrations during comparable periods. Roughly 75 to 80 percent of these unaccompanied minors are believed to be victims of trafficking.

After these children enter the country, many disappear from government oversight. During a 2023 congressional hearing, the Department of Health and Human Services admitted it had lost contact with more than 85,000 unaccompanied children after placing them with sponsors. A Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report issued in August 2024 revised that number upward to more than 320,000 children whose whereabouts are unknown.

The same report found that an additional 290,000 children were released by HHS without being issued a notice to appear in immigration court, meaning ICE has no mechanism to monitor their location or safety. Another 32,000 children failed to appear for scheduled immigration court hearings, which represent one of the few opportunities for ICE agents to observe possible signs of trafficking or exploitation.

The U.S. State Department’s most recent Trafficking in Persons Report on Mexico documents the source-country conditions driving that pipeline. Organized criminal groups force Mexican and foreign children into sexual exploitation, as well as into roles as assassins and lookouts and into the production, transportation, and sale of drugs. Local observers reported an increase in organized criminal groups exploiting children in trafficking, with particular concern over the forced recruitment of Indigenous children, who are coerced through torture and threats of murder. Some government officials in Mexico collude with traffickers or participate directly in trafficking crimes, with corrupt immigration officials allegedly accepting payment from traffickers to facilitate the irregular entry of foreign victims into the country.

The majority of trafficking cases occur among family members, intimate partners, or acquaintances on social media, or through employment-related deception. Experts have noted an especially high prevalence of child sex trafficking in Tlaxcala, where family-run networks target and seduce girls in the community and then exploit them in Mexico or the United States.

Traffickers increasingly use social media to recruit victims. An NGO reported that more than 60 percent of victims who called Mexico’s anti-trafficking hotline were initially recruited through websites or social media platforms.

Through the efforts of the Trump administration to secure the border and discourage illegal entry, the number of unaccompanied minors entering the country has dropped from nearly 9,000 in 2024 to less than 700 in 2025.

In addition to preventing new trafficking victims from entering the country, the administration is conducting raids and arrests to catch predators and rescue children already in the United States.

More:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/03/ice-cbp-federal-agencies-combating-child-trafficking-mexico/