Sexual assault data from the border on unaccompanied minors do not seem to add up, according to Landon Starbuck of Freedom Forever. Starbuck’s organization sent a FOIA inquiry in April 2022 asking for data on sexual assaults of Unaccompanied Minor Children (UMC) at the southern border. The answer for Unaccompanied Minors in FY2022? Two. Two out of almost 150k UMCs that crossed in 2022? Come on! Between FY19-FY22, only 3 were reported. These seem to be wildly inaccurate numbers given the number of UMCs who are illegally crossing the southern border. The answer provided to Starbuck is pictured below for Unaccompanied Minors who were victims of sexual assault between FY19-FY22.
For Accompanied Minors there were allegedly only 6 incidents, pictured below. There were no reported deaths.
Reportedly, the Biden administration has lost contact with 1 in 3 children because of its lawless border policies. In FY2022, almost 150k Unaccompanied Minors crossed the Southwest Border according to the U.S. Customs and Border Control. Another 483k individuals in a family unit or (FMUA) came across, some of whom were probably not related by blood. The Biden administration revoked the DNA testing present during the Trump administration, a real danger for vulnerable minors. Traffickers are notorious for putting children with individuals or families who are not related to the child. Cartels make a lot of money trafficking minor children.
Starbuck and Freedom Forever asked the following questions only to receive no response. Freedom Forever submitted an official advocacy inquiry letter that is now part of Congressional record. The April 26, 2022 letter with questions is pictured below:
Are we to believe there were only two cases of sexual assault of unaccompanied minors in 2022 in ICE holding facilities? If not to be believed, then why are the numbers so low? Where is the breakdown in the data? Why is the data so opaque when it comes to protecting our most cherished? Customs and Border Patrol certainly has manpower. CBP is one of the government’s largest law enforcement organizations, with around 60,000 employed. And, according to the 2022 CBP Annual Report Assessing CBP Efforts to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Sexual Abuse in Holding Facilities, CBP has put a number of guidelines and measures in place to identify and respond to allegations of sexual assault. It may be that bureaucratic behemoth agencies are not ideal caretakers of vulnerable children.
The OIG for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found the reporting system to be lacking. The report states that a review of incident reports from “45 care provider facilities submitted to ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement) between January 1, 2018, and July 31, 2018. Among these reports, 761 unique incidents described conduct of a sexual nature. Reports for most (704) of these incidents involved conduct between minors, fewer (48) involved conduct by an adult against a minor, and the remaining (9) incidents had an unknown perpetrator. The incidents varied widely in type and severity…21,858 incidents were reported…That includes all types of incidents occurring before and while in ORR custody.” In addition, “9 of 704 reported incidents [between minors] alleged minor perpetrators age 16 or 17 were against alleged minor victims aged 12 or younger.”
The ORR is responsible for placing minors with sponsors and providing “age-appropriate care and wraparound services in one of the 296 facilities and programs in 27 states funded by ORR. As of October 4, 2023, there are 10,818 unaccompanied children in HHS’ care and the average length of time an unaccompanied child remained in ORR’s care was 24 days.”
Staffing issues, examination of facilities, lack of systematic reporting, flawed analysis, data collection, usability of the data, and not asking those who use reporting systems for feedback were all challenges cited by the OIG report. The sheer numbers crossing the southern border alone make it a gargantuan task to track, monitor, and care for these children. It is doubtful the NGOs and state facilities involved are adequately monitored. Moreover, even without the challenges associated with traveling illegally to the U.S., children are notoriously unlikely to report sexual abuse even in the best of circumstances.
For those who believe the commercial sex trafficking of minor children is a rare occurence, one visit to the news releases put out by the Offices of the United States Attorneys. The page brings up 2572 results detailing incidents of minors being sex trafficked. In most cases, it takes years to convict the criminals involved. Meanwhile, the children being victimized continue to be victimized in many cases. Not all are related to minors who come through our southern border. But all deserve our attention. Some recent examples are described below:
In 2007, the aunt of a fifteen year old Mexican girl offered to pay her niece’s travel expenses to New York city so she could “work as a cleaner” there. However, the young girl did not know at the time that her aunt and three co-conspirators were actually “members of the Queens-based Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization,” according to the Department of Justice. The ring has allegedly been in place since 2002
and the courts are just now convicting the individuals involved.. On Oct. 19, 2023 the DOJ convicted the girl’s aunt and three others “with transportation of minors, sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion, promotion of prostitution, use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and related conspiracy counts.”
The aunt, Luz Elvira Cardona and her three co-conspirators are “all related by blood or common-law marriage.” The ring “brokered a deal with a client to sell her virginity” and she was “forced to engage in commercial sex with 20 or more men daily. In some cases, a crooked Brewster, NY cop named Wayne Pfeiffer “had sex with girls” as he helped traffick them through the Putnam County village. For eight years, Pfeiffer brought the girls back to the police station for sex in return for turning a blind eye to the ring’s activities.
In another case, Jacob Daskal who was the “head of the Boro Park Shomrim Society (the “Shomrim”), a private, Orthodox Jewish crime-patrol group associated with the New York Police Department” allegedly took a 15 year-old girl home in 2017 and “groomed her for sex.” Between August and November of 2017, Daskal, then 58 years old, engaged in sex with the girl. According to a July 14, 2023 DOJ press release Daskal continued the abuse online after he helped her find a new school in Illinois. He also flew to Chicago, booked a hotel room and had sexual intercourse and oral sex with her there before returning to NY that evening:
“During the summer of 2017, the sexual conduct occurred primarily at Daskal’s house in Brooklyn, New York and at his summer house in South Fallsburg, New York. The defendant frequently transported the victim between those locations by way of New Jersey. At the end of August, the defendant, his family and the victim returned full-time to his house in Brooklyn, where the abuse continued. As the school year started, the defendant helped the victim find a new school in Chicago, Illinois, and, in October 2017, she moved there to attend that school and live with another family. While the victim was in Chicago, the defendant communicated with the victim via text message and over Skype video chat. On or about November 5, 2017, the defendant traveled to Chicago for a day trip to visit the victim. The defendant booked a hotel room in Chicago, and he brought the victim to the hotel for sexual intercourse and oral sex. He flew back to New York that evening.”
“Throughout the abuse, the defendant instructed the victim to delete their communications and warned her not to tell anyone about their sexual relationship. The defendant also used his position as a leader in their community to quiet the victim, bragging about his connections to law enforcement and warning her that it would ruin her life if she told anyone about their relationship.”
According to reporting from The Daily News, “The victim, who was present in the courtroom, was surrounded by dozens of Daskal’s supporters from his family and from the Orthodox Jewish community.
“I live with the trauma of what he has done to me physically and emotionally every day,” she said in a statement read by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Reid. “My life will never be the same again. This horrendous experience has shaped me in so many ways.”
Anjum Zafar Mian, 42, of DeSoto Texas was convicted of 15 counts of sex trafficking in June. According to the DOJ, Mian “forced at least two young girls, ages 16 and 17 to engage in commercial sex.” He allegedly intimidated them, threatening to harm their families “if they didn’t comply.” He also brought a 17 year old from Oklahoma, forced her to have commercial sex and wouldn’t allow her to return home when she asked. He communicated with customers via TextNow and Google. He also “plied the girls with drugs and alcohol, delivered them to customers” and then made the girls give him their cash afterwards. Many of his victims testified he raped his victims while they were unconscious.
Freedom Forever is an all volunteer organization that focuses its energy and time on preserving the innocence and safety of children. Freedom Forever is now also offering crisis support for survivors and families. Please call the Crisis Resource Line at 615.307.0152 or email our resource specialist at Starr@FreedomForever.us.
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