Old North News

Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Cindy Hyde-Smith, along with co-sponsor North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis and other supporters have introduced a bill titled the “End Child Trafficking Now Act” to combat child trafficking.

"The Biden Administration’s response has been severely lacking to the increased risk to unaccompanied minors of sexual abuse & human trafficking at the Southern border. This legislation will provide commonsense, humane reform to help prevent innocent children from being abused,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-WI), said in a tweet.

This legislation has garnered support from organizations such as The National Police Association. Under the proposed bill, any migrant who accompanies a child would be required to undergo a DNA test to establish their familial relationship with the child, according to a press release.

The Biden Administration’s decision to end DNA testing at the border on May 31 coincides with the announcement of the bill, according to a news release from Tillis’ office. The bill proposes mandatory reporting of immigrants who refuse DNA testing and introduces penalties of up to 10 years in prison for immigrants who provide false information about their relationship with a child. It also requires that children whose relationship with an adult cannot be proven by DNA be processed as unaccompanied minors. Other mandates are included as well, according to the release.

“At the center of the illegal immigration debate should be the horrific physical and sexual abuse of children, often at the hands of unrelated adults,” National Police Association spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith said, according to a release from the association. "Mandatory DNA testing and significant penalties for adults refusing to comply would help stop the incredible heartbreak of the criminal ‘recycling’ of children. Very often these abused minors end up living a life of sex trafficking, drug abuse and worse, and the National Police Association strongly encourages the support and passage of the “End Child Sex Trafficking Now Act.”

Blackburn said as many as 30% of the children whose DNA was tested were not related to the illegal immigrants posing as family members, according to a press release from Hyde-Smith’s office. “Meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units and seek asylum at our southern border,” Blackburn said. “The Biden administration’s decision to halt all DNA familial testing is a grave misstep that not only puts the safety of Americans at risk but also increases the number of migrant children being trafficked. My legislation would stop criminals in their tracks and help protect children from exploitation – an idea we should all be able to support.”