Independent reporter Anthony Aguero, who documents the reality of the border crisis in Arizona, shared with Voz Media the firsthand testimonies that confirm the gravity of the child trafficking situation on the southern border.
Aguero, who is also the founder of Border Network News and host of "Border Wars," recounted his tough personal experience covering what happens daily on the border. Among the most inconceivable and heartbreaking things he reported is that "migrant girls arrive completely destroyed, before crossing they have been raped by multiple individuals":
One 12-year-old girl had more than 62 different DNA samples on her body ... Another girl who seemed to be no more than 12 years old being raped in the river ... In front of us an individual began to rape the girl while making fun of us. The agent told me we can't do anything, because he was on the Mexican side. When the authorities arrived, the individual had already left ... He finished, grabbed the girl, put her on his shoulder and walked away ... Something that I will never forget.
'Children arrive drugged to prevent them from speaking'
Aguero recounted how small children (some do not even know how to walk) are taken by traffickers while they cross the border to enter the country. Most of the individuals who take the children do not have the ability to answer questions as simple as the child's date of birth or who their mother is:
It's not until I make contact with them, let them feel at ease and ask them about the child's mother... They always say that their mother abandoned them, that's the key.
The reporter also commented that the majority of traffickers are men and that children are drugged and sedated to prevent them from alerting the authorities that they have been kidnapped:
It is mostly men who come accompanied by children ... The children come drugged, to prevent them from speaking, they put them to sleep.
The situation is something that is evident daily on the border. The reporter commented that the decision made by The Biden administration to eliminate DNA tests has been a key factor in making the situation worse every day, since it leaves Border Patrol without the power to carry out relevant tests or to detain criminals:
Unfortunately, President Biden's administration removed all the protocols that they had in the previous administration to check whether the children who came with these adults were actually the parents ... They removed the DNA tests ... Then the immigration agents cannot do the checks. Unless the child says this is not my parent openly, the child is left with these individuals.
Watch the full interview here:
