Just how bad is the crisis at the southern border? Representative Kat Cammack (R-FL) provided some insight in a recent interview with The Floridian, describing a bill for law enforcement she introduced that would help officers recognize human trafficking, and provided firsthand testimony to the utterly horrific nature of the enterprise at the border.
Rep. Cammack's Human Trafficking Awareness Act, originally introduced at the beginning of 2022, "allows for the facilitation of training programs for law enforcement and first responders, which is a big gap right now because it is basically like you are just trying to respond in the moment," as she explained.
Cammack further described the human trafficking situation at the border as "a travesty," having witnessed it personally in previous visits to the area.
"I have seen the recycling of children," Rep. Cammack said, wherein children aged six or younger are sent to accompany single adult men into the United States so asylum claims are easier to validate. Once the man is in, "they send that child back to the cartels in Mexico or wherever and that child makes the journey again with another person," comparing the system to Tibetan Sherpas.
As if it could not be any worse, Cammack added, "These children are abused, they are sexually assaulted. I have personally seen children who have been sexually assaulted." While some are luckily able to report the migrant they are forced to accompany is not related to them, which is proven through a DNA test, they still must live with the trauma.
"On my very first trip to the border," recounted Cammack, "I met a nine-year-old girl who was an [Unaccompanied Alien Child] and she on her journey had been passed around and was gang-raped on the American side by members of the cartel. Nine years old."
In April, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody spoke about the result of a grand jury convened in June of 2022, which found a shockingly high number of children were allowed to be trafficked thanks to expedited processing at the border, with many being sent to sponsors they did not know or dropped off at empty lots or even strip clubs.
