President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice quietly removed content on child sex trafficking from its website earlier this year.
The Justice Department’s website includes a page on child sex trafficking; however, that page has seen major revisions in recent months, including the complete removal of three sections:
- International Sex Trafficking of Minors
- Domestic Sex Trafficking of Minors
- Child Victims of Prostitution
One of the deleted sections warned that sex trafficking can involve “the cross border transportation of children.”
“In these situations, traffickers recruit and transfer children across international borders in order to sexually exploit them in another country. The traffickers can be individuals working alone, organized crime groups, enterprises, or networks of criminals working together to traffic children into prostitution across country lines,” the section stated, according to the internet archive.
“This form of sex trafficking is a problem in the United States, and recovered victims originate from all over the world, including less-developed areas, such as South and Southeast Asia, Central America, and South America, to more developed areas, such as Western Europe,” the deleted portion continued.
“Once in the United States, a child may be trafficked to any or multiple states within the country. These victims are often trafficked far from home, and thrown into unfamiliar locations and culture. They may be given a false passport or other documentation to conceal their age and true identity. They may also struggle with the English language. All these factors make it extremely difficult for these children to come forward to law enforcement.”
The Biden administration’s sudden website changes come amid the ongoing border crisis that helps fuel human trafficking in the United States, according to experts.
“Slavery is alive and well today all across the world, and it comes in the form of human trafficking,” Texas Public Policy Foundation said.
U.S. immigration authorities encountered over 100,000 unaccompanied minors last year, an all-time high, according to CBS News.
“While some minors make it into the country with information on family members they have in the U.S., others end up in the foster system. According to the Department of State, a large number of child sex trafficking survivors in the U.S. were at one time in the foster care system,” Texas Public Policy Foundation added. “Being an immigrant places these children at a higher risk since they tend to have lower levels of education, an inability to speak English, and a lack of family and friends.”
Another deleted section formerly on the Justice Department’s website explained that child victims of prostitution are physically, emotionally and psychologically abused, and it is not uncommon for “pimps and traffickers” to “beat, rape, or torture” their child victims.
“Technological advances, in particular the Internet, have facilitated the commercial sexual exploitation of children by providing a convenient worldwide marketing channel. Individuals can now use websites to advertise, schedule, and purchase sexual encounters with minors. The Internet and web-enabled cell phones also allow pimps and traffickers to reach a larger clientele base than in the past, which may expose victims to greater risks and dangers,” the deleted section adds.
