They are strangers in a strange land, vulnerable and alone.

These children are often the victims of human traffickers, who sell their bodies for use in the sex industry or as laborers. Texas Public Policy Foundation Policy Analyst Nikki Pressley has taken a careful look at this sad scenario.

“Unaccompanied alien children [referred to as UAC by researchers] are at particular risk because they are just that – unaccompanied and alone, in a foreign place with an unfamiliar native language, and children who have/are currently experiencing trauma – all vulnerabilities that increase the risk of victimization,” Pressley told Lone Star Standard. “In fiscal year 2019, Texas released 9,900 UAC’s to sponsors – the highest number in the country, and over double the number from FY18” based on a study from the Office of Refuge Resettlement.

“Unfortunately, in recent years, most of these kids are released to non-citizens and to a home that has not had a home study to ensure it is a safe and appropriate placement, once again placing them at increased risk,” she said.

There are safeguards in place to assist victims who lack citizenship but the public must be aware of them to assist these vulnerable children.

“Several policies already exist to protect non-citizen victims, such as the T-Visa, U-Visa, and the INA as amended by VAWA,” Pressley said. “Each of these are avenues with their own [special] qualifications, for trafficking victims to apply for immigration status and eventual eligibility for residency. Increased public awareness regarding these options may help more migrants come forward with their victimization once in the United States.

“On the more preventative side of things, the reinterpretation and broadening of the Flores settlement in 2015 created an incentive for families, and others pretending to be fake families, to enter the country and seek asylum."

The original intent of the Flores agreement was to help UAC’s be placed “without necessary delay," Pressley said. "However, this expansion broadened it to apply to children who are accompanied by parents and also placed a 20-day time limit on release, leading to most families being released after the 20 days without full adjudication of their asylum claim." 

They often end up in an even worse situation.

“This has led to further exploitation of children at the front-end of the migrant process as it essentially allows for children to be seen as ‘passports’ – a valued good that could be sold, traded, and used repeatedly,” Pressley said. “Ending the Flores settlement and replacing it with a policy that allows families to be kept together without incentivizing the exploitation of children is a good start to solving this problem."

While sex traffickers are justifiably notorious, people who exploit others for other purposes also exist and are causing a lot of damage, she noted.

“Labor trafficking is extremely prevalent in the United States but does not receive the same recognition or resources as it’s less visible and underreported when compared to sex trafficking,” Pressley said. “The recent migration is the number one risk factor to falling victim to labor trafficking. In the 2019 Trafficking In Persons Report, the U.S. Department of State reported the ‘lack of sustained effort to address labor trafficking.’ This same report also stated one of the priority recommendations is to ‘increase investigation and prosecution of labor trafficking cases.’

“I would also like to note that the new 2019 human trafficking hotline statistics came out recently showing that the number of reported foreign national cases outnumbered the number of US citizen cases (1,417 vs. 1,098) for both the United States and Texas,” Pressley added.

Pressley, a Denton native, focuses on child welfare and juvenile justice policy. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of North Texas. She said her research has primarily focused on the domestic side of trafficking, and also the child exploitation aspect.

“I recommend reading my ex-colleague’s paper, “Combating Transnational Human Trafficking of Migrants in the United States,” as I think it would provide further insight,” she said.