After a five-month inquiry ordered by Governor Ron DeSantis, a grand jury in Florida accused the Biden administration of “facilitating” the trafficking of children as refugees.
The panel’s report, which was harshly critical of the Biden administration in general and the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security in particular, was released. It refuted ORR’s assertion that children who have fled their countries are being taken care of and reunited with their relatives.
“In reality, ORR is facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children, and some of our fellow Florida residents are (in some cases unwittingly) funding and incentivizing it for primarily economic reasons. If any resident of Florida exposed U.S.-born children to this process, they would be justifiably arrested for child neglect or worse.”
The two government agencies actively encouraged unaccompanied minors from South and Central America to undertake the perilous journey to the US border through the White House’s policies, the grand jury determined. The research discovered that many of the youngsters are left with unscreened adults after they reach the border.
The report added that grand jurors were repulsed and horrified by testimony and video documenting the treatment of foreign children, saying that “this process exposes children to horrifying health conditions, constant criminal threat, labor and sex trafficking, robbery, rape, and other experiences not done justice by mere words.”
What witnesses testified before the grand jury was not immediately known. The grand jury filed subpoenas and requests for records and information to Florida non-governmental groups doing business with ORR, according to the report, but these efforts were unsuccessful.
According to the report, one NGO representative allegedly told the panel that their group would rather run an unregistered, unlawful child placement facility than risk losing ORR’s financing.
According to the investigation, ORR actively discouraged its employees from challenging the procedure, even internally, and even fired some of them.
The report also criticized HHS, saying that the organization was charged with obstructing its demands for basic information at the outset of the inquiry.
In response to allegations that the ORR was flying in illegal immigrants detained at the border, DeSantis requested the grand jury probe. The panel found that it was taking place on a broad scale and primarily in confidentiality.
