by Kristyn Peck, CEO

As someone who has spent my career as an advocate for unaccompanied children, I’ve consumed the ongoing media coverage about the increase in child labor and trafficking happening around the United States with fervor and frustration. You see, the solutions to this and recommendations are not new, and organizations that serve and advocate on behalf of unaccompanied children and survivors of trafficking have called for increased protections for unaccompanied children for more than a decade. 

By nature, human trafficking is a hidden crime – traffickers are masters at manipulating and threatening their victims to not come forward or even fully understand their current circumstances. Traffickers target the most vulnerable members of society – those who do not believe they would be helped even if they did report their situation, like unaccompanied children. Increased awareness of its existence, of its fact patterns, and its indicators can only help with increasing the identification of victims. 

The line between exploitation and human trafficking can be a slippery slope, and therefore, raising public consciousness of its existence, of its fact patterns, and of its indicators only helps with increasing the identification of victims. February’s New York Times expose, “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.,” spotlighted the exploitation and labor trafficking of unaccompanied children (who are also referred to as unaccompanied minors in many of the articles) released from federal custody, followed by a flurry of Congressional hearings, an internal audit of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) – the federal agency charged with the care of unaccompanied youth –  and the formation of a child labor taskforce. Most recently, The New York Times and the New York Times Magazine ran separate pieces last week, which again underscore our broken immigration system as another root cause of trafficking. Unaccompanied children, one of the populations most at risk of human trafficking, have become a political football – used by immigration restrictionists to argue that their arrival at the U.S. border seeking protection is a cause of “lax” approaches to border management, rather than due to the very real risks to their lives they are escaping in their countries of origin.   

My first encounter with human trafficking was as a social worker making best interest recommendations for unaccompanied children in 2005. I met a 16-year-old girl from the Ivory Coast who was supposed to live with her “uncle” upon arrival in the United States. However, following psychosocial evaluations, I uncovered a distressing truth – he was not her uncle but rather someone whose intention was to traffic her into commercial sex. I recommended she not be released to this individual and ORR agreed. This is an example of programs and policies working. This is also the unglamorous, un-Hollywood version of preventing human trafficking that needs to be better supported and resourced.   

What stalls us from addressing this issue is a lack of political will – not a lack of solutions. In June, I submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Unaccompanied Children, and outlined a few actionable items for Congress and the Administration, namely, Congress adequately funding ORR to ensure thorough vetting and assessment of proposed sponsors and their capacity to protect children, and to be responsible for what happens to children released from their care through post-release visits.   

To simply sum up the solutions, ORR is chronically under resourced by Congress, and succumbs to pressure to prioritize quick releases over safety. Congress needs to adequately fund ORR to ensure thorough vetting and assessment of proposed sponsors and their capacity to protect children, and for ORR to be responsible for what happens to children released from their care through on-going, in-person, post-release visits.   

Requiring minimum standards for state child labor laws and increasing fines for employers that violate them is also a start to combat trafficking, as well as Congress adequately resourcing the Department of Labor to investigate child labor violations. We must also increase protections for unaccompanied children who are arguably most at risk for labor exploitation and trafficking. The death of Duvan Perez, a 16-year-old from Guatemala, in July at a poultry plant in Mississippi, was the third teenager to lose their life in an industrial accident this past summer, and tragically may not be the last despite months of reports of abuse, exploitation, and trafficking of children in the labor market.   

By not acting upon the known solutions, we are all complicit in the continued harm that these children experience. Political divisions surrounding the issue hinder progress in protecting children from human trafficking. We must rise above political agendas and prioritize the safety of children, just as we would for our own families. Protecting unaccompanied children should be a nonpartisan issue, and it is incumbent upon us to act in their best interest. By implementing the right policies, oversight, and resources, we can ensure that all children are shielded from exploitation and can lead dignified and fulfilling lives.   

If you want to join our voice in supporting immigrant youth, visit our Advocacy page for ways to reach out to your representatives to motivate them to take meaningful action and reform. Providing safe, loving homes for unaccompanied youth is also integral to stemming trafficking. If you or someone you know is interested in being a foster parent, please reach out to our Children, Youth, and Family Services team today.   

Kristyn Peck is chief executive officer of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA), one of the nation’s largest human services and immigration relief and refugee welcome agencies, which served more than 7,000 individuals from 48 countries in 2021-2022. Ms. Peck testified before Congress in 2014 regarding the protection of unaccompanied children, submitted written Congressional testimony on the same topic in 2016, and again submitted testimony to the June 14, 2023 Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Unaccompanied Children.