by J. Peder Zane
For women and children, the road to hell is paved with Democrats’ good intentions.
The party’s beliefs about the right thing to do regarding the border are the main contributors to an explosion of rape, human trafficking, prostitution, and child labor.
As James Varney recently reported for RealClearInvestigations, much of this human tragedy can be traced to the scores of executive orders and other new policies advanced by the Biden administration to encourage millions of migrants from around the world to come to America.
The carnage begins south of the border, where women and children heading north are victimized by predators. The New York Times reported last week that “Assault, robbery and rape have long been a grim risk of migrant journeys around the globe. But aid groups working in the Darién Gap [a jungle in Panama that links South America to Central America] say that in the past six months, they have documented an extraordinary spike in attacks, with patterns and frequencies rarely seen outside of war zones … Long-established aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF, with experience working in conflicts, say the attacks are organized and exceptionally cruel. Perpetrators beat victims and take food, even baby formula, leaving people battered and starving in the forest. And the assaults often involve cases in which dozens of women are violated in a single event.”
It is impossible to say how deeply such trauma will scar these victims. But that is only the beginning of the nightmare for many. To get to the United States, many migrants rack up debts with cartels and coyotes who provide passage. Repayment can require especially degrading forms of modern slavery. Varney reported: “A 2023 report by the conservative Heritage Foundation found arrests for human trafficking rose by 50 percent and convictions for the crime by 80 percent in the federal [Fiscal Year] FY2022. Of those trafficked, 72 percent were immigrants, most here illegally, the report concluded … The impacts are seen across the United States. The New York Post reports that a street in Corona, Queens [has turned] “into the city’s boldest open-air market for sex – one so popular with pervs that it’s advertised on YouTube. As police enforcement wanes and immigration surges nearly a dozen brothels have [also] set up shop along Roosevelt Avenue near Junction Boulevard.’”
Because these crimes are committed in the shadows and the federal government intentionally does not keep and/or share much reliable information about migrants, it is hard to know the extent of such suffering. The fate of the estimated half a million unaccompanied minors who crossed the border since Biden was elected is largely unknown, though it was reported last year that the government had completely lost track of 85,000 of them.
The Labor Department reported last year that illegal child labor cases rose by 44% between 2021 and 2022. The New York Times detailed the problem in an article headlined: “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.: Arriving in record numbers, they’re ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor laws – including in factories that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom.”
Muckraker.com founder Anthony Rubin says children climbing roofs during the day or manning factory assembly lines at night may be the lucky ones. He told Fox News that so many migrant children have arrived so quickly that the government is placing some in foster homes that “are dealing with serious sexual assault allegations … A lot of times they [the children] are dropped into the hands of traffickers, sex traffickers, and much worse. And they’re driven across the country and dropped off at these homes and 85,000 have gone missing, and that’s what’s going on.”
All of this was predictable. From day one, the Biden administration was intent on demonstrating its virtue in comparison to Donald Trump. It sent the signal, come one, come all, without any plan for how to handle the inevitable influx. Is anyone surprised that criminal gangs are exploiting the migrants who answered the call or that women and children – many without much education or skills, saddled with debts to smugglers and others – would make money however they could through choice or force?
While the migrants themselves have ultimate responsibility for their actions, the lure of life in America, no questions asked, is proving hard to resist for people stuck in grinding poverty.
Regardless, the alleged cruelty of Trump’s policies is child’s play compared to what is happening across the country. Unconscionable, immoral, and depraved only begin to suggest the mindset that has enabled this suffering and allows it to deepen without remedy – or even comment.
Republicans have not demonstrated much care or compassion, either – using the migrant crisis to score political points while ignoring the human toll. But Biden is our president and his policies are a stain on this nation’s soul.
Like many Democrats, he believes it is enough to have the right feelings, never mind the consequences. If welfare programs destroy families, aggressive racial policies fail to lift up the poorest people of color, and woke ideology contributes to a breakdown of public education, well, ain’t that a shame.
Intentions must be measured by their results. Biden’’ immigration policies have unleashed a humanitarian crisis that civilized people cannot ignore.
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J. Peder Zane is a RealClearInvestigations editor and columnist. He previously worked as a book review editor and book columnist for the News & Observer (Raleigh), where his writing won several national honors. Zane has also worked at the New York Times and taught writing at Duke University and Saint Augustine’s University.
Photo “Joe Biden” by The White House; background photo “Border Gate” by Hillebrand Steve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
