Utah Stories

The Impact The Open Border Policy Has on Utah

There are currently over 3,000 children detained at the border, this is just a fraction of the unaccompanied minors who have entered the US.

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Migrants from Central America form a human chain to cross the Rio Grande to enter illegally into the United States to turn themselves in to request for asylum in El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 11. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

There are currently over 3,000 children detained at the border. This is just a fraction of the 11,000 unaccompanied minors who have entered the country in 2021.

The number of migrants crossing the border is now at a 20-year high. “On Monday, March 12, the border patrol took in 280 minors in the Rio Grande Valley sector. America needs to know how these children are coming across the border and who is helping these children cross the border. “ said Texas Governor Gregg Abbott in a recent press conference.

Moving Minors From “Cages” to the Dallas Convention Center

The press conference was being held because 3,000 minors were being moved from their temporary housing facilities, which are essentially shipping containers with bars over windows. The mainstream media has been calling these facilities “cages” since the beginning of the Trump administration. The Biden Administration is now asking Texas to help move these children into the Kay Bailey Hutchison convention center in Dallas. Most of the children are teenagers. Abbot has consistently criticized the Biden Administration for lacking any coherent policy when it comes to the migrant crisis especially in handling the exploited minors. 

What impact will these additional sex trafficking operations have on Utah?

Utah is currently fourth in the nation per capita when it comes to illegal sex trafficking operations. Minors get caught up in sex trafficking rings from countries like Honduras and Guatemala that have been devastated by Covid-19. Families and minors are sold into the idea of getting smuggled into the United States to get jobs as nannies or in other service industries in the United States. They are then controlled and sold into sex trafficking rings by cartel organizations who threaten the minors if they tell authorities about what is happening they will kill their families. Most of the minors detained at the border remain silent.

Texas Governor Greg Abbot said:

“Are the children being used to carry contraband? Are they a part of cartel activity? Americans need to know who the human traffickers are who are preying on these minors.”

Abbott says that border patrol agents are completely overwhelmed by the crisis and now Texas needs to step up to alleviate the major problem of intelligence. Abbot added:

“Are border patrol agents getting the information from these thousands of children? According to Governor Abbott, we simply do not know because the Biden Presidency is not saying.”

“Texas is stepping up and doing what the federal government should be doing.” Texas Department of Public Safety has deployed one thousand agents to support operation lone star to crack down on human trafficking. The governor’s sex trafficking team is working on apprehending unaccompanied minors who are crossing the border. Their goal is to gain more information about who is directing the human trafficking operations.

But currently, Texas authorities don’t have the jurisdiction to interview the children, so Governor Abbott is seeking permission from the Biden Administration to do the work that the federal government is not doing.

“Whether it is to secure the border or fighting human trafficking, the state of Texas will always step up and fill the gaps that are left by Washington,” says Abbott.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has agents who are addressing the humanitarian crisis. The word “crisis” is still a term that the Biden Administration refuses to use. Instead, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki prefers to call the situation “a challenge”. Texas is calling on their work to step up both their intelligence and humanitarian aid “Operation Lone Star”. One thousand people will be dedicated to the effort.

Operation Lone Star: Texas Wants to Step For Washington

Texas Department of Public Safety Steve McCraw says, “The cartels are leveraging the gaps that have been created by the change of policy by the Biden Administration.” The Biden administration immediately ended construction on the border wall. The Biden Administration also made a policy to allow all illegal immigrants to enter the country and be processed for asylum. Still, the Biden Administration is blaming the Trump administration for the problems.

McCraw says, “If you have a drug problem in the U.S. it’s coming through the border: cocaine, meth, fentanyl are all being smuggled by these children. Young women are promised to gain a service industry job: a nanny. What people will do to mankind is sickening. They can compel them into prostitution, some of the most brutal things done to children are happening in the U.S. The sex trafficking industry is certainly benefiting from this crisis. The young children are the victims. It’s everybody’s job to deal with human trafficking. Consistent with Operation Lone Star: we are looking for every opportunity to investigate sex trafficking.”

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