"I had hoped to assist in finding children loving homes.
Instead, I learned that children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that starts with recruiting in their home country, is smuggled to the U.S. border, and concludes when the [Office of Refugee Resettlement] delivers a child to a sponsor—some of whom are traffickers, criminals, or members of TCOs.
We are seeing a surge in labor trafficking because some sponsors perceive children as goods and commodities to be utilized for financial gain, Rodas added.