Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas has caused a small firestorm by tweeting on July 25, and then making several appearances about its contents. on news programs. Cruz’s tweet highlights how the Biden Administration’s failure to enforce border security is directly responsible for Mexican cartels openly trafficking drugs and sex trade victims into the United States with nearly total impunity.
President Biden doesn’t want Americans to know that he has been ignoring the narco slave trade taking place along our southern border. pic.twitter.com/OXtOYADamj
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) July 26, 2022
It is not secret that the cartels exploit teenager girls and young women to sex trade. Cruz stated on July 15, 2015:
“We heard multiple reports of something, I’ll be candid, I had never heard of before until today — something called a rape tree, which are trees where the traffickers would violently rape young women and then hang their undergarments in the tree as a trophy,” Cruz said on Friday.
Based on Amnesty International60% of Mexican women who travel to the U.S. border with Mexico are raped.
A Border Patrol agent, I wrote this in 2019.
At midday, I climbed to the summit and wandered aimlessly through the shadows of granite domes along the ridgeline. They looked like a spineless monster. The turkey vulture, hovering on thermals and moving in and out Mexico seemed to have no regard for international borders. All around me the mountainsides sparkled in the sunlight from the rubbish discarded by clandestine border crossers—Red Bull energy cans and Pedialyte baby bottles; children’s backpacks and Mexican water jugs. There were also other objects on display amongst the trash. More than once on patrol, I had stumbled upon desert altars full of votive candles, rosary beads, and prayer cards commemorating Juan Soldado, patron saint of undocumented immigrants, and Jesús Malverde, patron saint of drug smugglers.
This time, I came upon a velvet mesquite tree draped in women’s lingerie. The twisted limbs were covered in soiled bras, and lacy black pants. The Border Patrol calls these “rape trees.” It’s difficult to know whether these displays are merely symbolic of a woman’s vulnerability in this place or are the actual trophies of sexual violence. Women who know the risks involved in crossing this desert will often take morning-after pill before trying to cross.
Trump Administration declared human trafficking their top priority. Even in attempting to downplay Trump’s efforts, mainstream media begrudgingly credited Trump with taking direct action.
President Donald Trump’s anti-human trafficking stance has become a hallmark of his administration. Daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump has spurred the president’s investment in anti-trafficking measures since the beginning of his term. She called trafficking an “ugly stain on civilization” at the unveiling of the Trafficking in Persons report at the State Department in 2017, according to CNN.
Ivanka Trump’s work to mitigate human trafficking globally is also well-documented, from a meeting with survivors in Italy to her influence in the Oval Office.
What has the Biden administration done to address this issue? The conservative think-tank America First Policy Institute, Chad Wolf, and Bill Woolf stated that in January 2022 the administration was MIA in this matter.
The southwest border has essentially become a “feeding zone” for traffickers, and the Biden Administration has only made it easier for them to gain access to these children. Effective border security measures had been eliminated during the Biden Administration’s early years. This has allowed smugglers to convince migrant parents and children that there was a greater chance they could stay in America now than under Donald Trump.
Legal avenues are available to illegal immigrants who have been forced into the sex industry in order to obtain freedom. Harvard Law author noted this in 2018.
With the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act in October 2000, the T visa was established. It is a visa that protects victims of trafficking. These visas are available annually in a total of 5,000. It sounds very promising but is still a highly underutilized process. According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration statistics, only around 500 – 600 of these visas are granted each year. The burden of proof may fall on the victim of trafficking and the requirements for qualifying are numerous. These victims often have to testify against the trafficker. This can prove terrifying.
Also, T visas only last for 4 years. Individuals can still apply for green cards after three years, but this process is slow and underutilized.
It can be difficult to determine which is worse: cartels that illegally bring teenage girls into America to be sexually assaulted or men who abuse them. Trump proposed the death penalty for drug dealers. It may be the same as for sex dealers, though public castration for any men found with trafficking victims and paying for their sex seems logical.
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