Tuberville, Lee Introduce Bill to Combat Child Trafficking

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) in introducing the Stopping Border Surges Act which would disincentivize child trafficking and combat bad-faith asylum fraud.

"Thankfully, President Trump has locked down our borders after Joe Biden let millions of illegals invade our country," said Sen. Tuberville. "But unfortunately, we still have loopholes that are incentivizing illegals to come to the United States. Proud to join Sen. Mike Lee in introducing legislation to make sure we are not actively encouraging illegal immigration."

"Child traffickers have smuggled abused children across our border thanks to the Biden administration's policies that made it easier for them to cross by claiming to have a child," said Sen. Lee. "On top of that, many of these kids were released into their kidnapper's arms. This is not merciful; it's a Democrat-concocted system that favored traffickers. All the while, these coyotes were claiming to seek asylum, passing multiple safe countries on their way here without stopping. The Stopping Border Surges Act will disincentivize asylum fraud and give President Trump's border team the tools they need to protect exploited kids."

Sens. Tuberville and Lee were joined by Sens. Jim Banks (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Rick Scott (R-FL) in cosponsoring the bill.

Read full text of the bill here.

BACKGROUND:

This bill would eliminate the expansion of the Flores Settlement Agreement by allowing alien children accompanied by parents to be held with that parent for the duration of the parent's adjudication. This would end the incentive for non-parents to claim an unknown child as their own. It also removes any incentive for parents to bring children with them on the hazardous journey to the U.S. Border. Unfortunately, non-parents are increasingly using children as a get-out-of-jail-free card at the child's expense. These children are often "recycled" by smugglers and forced to cross multiple times to ensure admission for more adults.

The United States currently returns unaccompanied children from Mexico and Canada quickly and safely. Children from other countries, however, are placed in a lengthy removal process. They are released into the United States with the same adults that smuggled them into the country. Consequently, the policy incentivizes the enlistment of couriers to smuggle children across the border. Senator Lee's legislation ends this incentive by extending the same seamless process available to children from Mexico and Canada.

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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