Florida launches operation to arrest more parents and guardians of unaccompanied migrant children

"Last month, the UAC Safety Verification Initiative was launched in the Sunshine State, and the Department of Homeland Security hopes to expand it nationwide. The measure means that local law enforcement will join Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in monitoring homes that have taken in children who entered the United States illegally. The DHS justifies the initiative as a fight against child trafficking and exploitation, but critics denounce it as a ploy by the administration to deport more people."

"The new alliance with law enforcement represents ICE's commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation through collaboration with 287(g) law enforcement partners. The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited, the Department of Homeland Security statement said. Migrant advocates, however, consider the safety of children to be merely a pretext, another offshoot of policies adopted to achieve the largest deportation in history."

An initiative in Florida pairs local law enforcement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to monitor homes that sponsor migrant children who entered the United States illegally. The Department of Homeland Security frames the UAC Safety Verification Initiative as a measure to fight child trafficking and exploitation and aims to expand it nationwide. The program involves collaboration with 287(g) law enforcement partners and focuses on welfare checks to confirm children are safe and not exploited. Critics and migrant advocates view the effort as a pretext to increase arrests and deportations, noting many sponsors lack legal status. DHS cites 450,000 children placed with sponsors during the Biden administration.

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