Iowa’s Hinson calls for fingerprinting children brought over U.S. border to crack down on trafficking

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, this week introduced two bills aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into the United States, including one that calls for fingerprinting children brought over U.S. border to crack down on human trafficking.

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The bill, Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act, would give Customs and Border Patrol agents the authority to take fingerprints of minors 14 and younger and remove the U.S. Attorney General’s authority to waive fingerprinting requirements for those illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hinson and the bill’s supporters, which include fellow Iowa GOP U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra and Iowa GOP U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, argue it would crack down on child trafficking as well as "child recycling," which refers to bad actors bringing children with them across the border multiple times and falsely claiming them as a relative to appear as a family unit.

"One of the main victims of all of this chaos at the border are children,“ Hinson said during a conference call with reporters Thursday.

She referenced Border Patrol's Del Rio Sector agents apprehending 21 sex offenders attempting to enter the country illegally in less than two months. Their convictions include rape, sexual assault, sodomy and aggravated sexual assaults of children.

In less than two months, Del Rio Sector agents have apprehended 21 convicted sex offenders attempting to enter the country illegally. Due to the hard work and dedication of our agents, these dangerous individuals were not able to enter our country. Great work! #lawenforcement pic.twitter.com/neXHrzbmpt

— Acting Chief Patrol Agent Juan G. Bernal (@USBPChiefDRT) November 26, 2023

“Single migrants, often men, will buy these kids in order to get the look and appearance of a family unit when they’re apprehended at the border so that they can be quickly released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody,” Hinson said. “And we know that many of these are being recycled, meaning they are repeatedly used at the border.”

The New York Times reported this year that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could not reach more than 85,000 children released to sponsors, subjecting these children to exploitation, abuse and forced labor, Hinson’s office said. Overall, the department lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children, the Times reported.

“Empowering U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to fingerprint noncitizens under 14 years of age would allow them to identify victims of child recycling when they are trafficked across the border and reduce misidentification of unaccompanied migrant children released to sponsors in the U.S.,” Hinson’s office said in an email.

How are migrant children screened at the border?

The U.S. Border Patrol agents began fingerprinting some migrant children age 14 and younger in 2019 under a pilot program under then-President Donald Trump. In 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified 600 “recycled” children.

Current regulations, however, prohibit fingerprinting of noncitizens under the age of 14. Customs and Border Patrol checks all forms of identification against available data systems, including by performing checks to identify fraudulent documentation, the agency said in a statement to The Gazette.

For individuals claiming to be a family unit, Customs and Border Protection relies on “articulable observations,” such as interactions between the adult and child, to assess whether a family relationship exists, a spokesman said. The agency may also look for evidence that the child has been encountered on multiple occasions before.

If there are concerns about the validity of a claimed biological parent-child relationship, U.S. Customs and Border Protection also conducts familial DNA testing.

While the Border Patrol does not fingerprint migrants 14 or younger, it will take photos of children and collected additional information if an agent has reasonable suspicion of human trafficking. Such determinations are made on a case-by-case basis and only when there is a reason to warrant fingerprinting or photos for a child under 14 as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act and corresponding provisions in the Code of Federal Regulations, a spokesman said.

Cases of suspected child recycling or trafficking are referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for investigation.

Another bill introduced this week by Hinson would require Human Services to issue reports on how many migrants are being let into the country to stay with sponsors at each point of entry, broken down by demographics and ethnicity.

It would also mandate the reporting of data on how many migrants at those points of entry were placed into expedited removal, granted voluntary departure or other processes.

Bills come as senators work on border deal

Hinson’s introduction of the bills comes as a bipartisan group of senators work to find a compromise on a deal that would link border security with aid for Ukraine and Israel.

Republicans have proposed changing the asylum system for migrants by raising the standard for asylum-seekers to prove they have a credible fear they will be persecuted or tortured in their home country as they’re being screened before advancing toward asylum. The group, though, has reached an impasse over how to deal with the humanitarian parole system that the Biden administration and others have used in urgent situations to allow certain migrants into the United States on a temporary basis.

Presidents have the authority to temporarily admit people to the United States for humanitarian or other reasons — from the Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians in the late 1970s to Iraqi Kurds who helped the United States in the 1990s Gulf War. Biden has used the “parole” powers to allow in thousands of people from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere.

Republicans, including Hinson, say many people take advantage of the system to live and work here while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed in court.

The administration and some immigrant advocacy groups argue it is utilizing the tools available to reduce the chaos at the border as Congress has failed to act on more comprehensive immigration improvements.

Republicans and Democrats remain at odds on a potential agreement, and Senate Republican negotiators have expressed doubts they can secure a deal that House Speaker Mike Johnson could bring to the House floor.

House Republicans are insisting on wholesale changes to U.S. border and immigration policies. They have passed legislation that would detain families at the border, require migrants to make the asylum claim at an official port of entry and either detain them or require them to remain outside the country while their case is processed.

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday warned House Republicans, “if you’re going to hold out for perfect, we’re not going to get anything done and you’re going to have another 2 or 3 million people coming (across) this border in the last year of this presidency.”

Asked about Grassley’s remarks, Hinson told The Gazette she’s “hopeful that Democrats in both the House and Senate will stop playing politics and work with Republicans to enact the policy changes necessary to secure the border.”

The White House declined to comment for this article.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com