Part 9/15:
A particularly troubling aspect of current border policy involves unaccompanied minors. Since President Biden assumed office, over 400,000 unaccompanied children have crossed into the U.S., many of whom are vulnerable to exploitation, sex trafficking, and forced labor. Reese links the alarming rise in unaccompanied minors to legislation from the early 2000s designed ostensibly to protect children but which, in practice, incentivized their dangerous journey—further manipulated by smugglers and traffickers.