Republican senators have reintroduced legislation requiring DNA testing at the southern border to determine the relationship between illegal migrants and any accompanying children.
The bill is intended to combat Mexican cartels, who have exploited the Biden administration's border crisis by employing child trafficking.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., first introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act during the 118th Congress in June, when uncooperative Democrats controlled the Senate. She reintroduced the bill late last week.
The legislation would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deport illegal migrants who refuse a DNA test. It also would mandate a maximum 10-year prison sentence for those who falsify family relationships or guardianship over minors, and it criminalizes the practice of "child recycling," where the same child is used repeatedly by undocumented adults, who are neither relatives nor legal guardians, to gain entry into the U.S.
"As many as 30% of children DNA tested were found not to be related to the illegal immigrants posing as family members. Meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units and seek asylum at our southern border," Blackburn said in a statement.
"The Biden administration's decision to halt all DNA familial testing not only put the safety of Americans at risk but also increased 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."
Critics of the proposed DNA testing at the border say it could lead to further family separations, Newsweek reported.
GOP senators co-sponsoring the End Child Trafficking Now Act include Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
In late November, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said that President-elect Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, will focus on finding the 300,000 migrant children that DHS lost during the Biden administration.
"I think we need to emphasize we're going to look at people in a way based on criminals first, and then he's going to focus on saving those 300,000 children who we believe have been trafficked and let loose somehow in this community and are being abused. And that is so important," Tenney said of Trump's mass deportation plan for illegal migrants.
"I can't emphasize how compassionate and how important it is that Tom Homan wants to focus on those children. All of us care about these children that were trafficked all over our communities."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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