By Debbie Kelley | Colorado Springs Gazette
Each year thousands of children in the United States are preyed upon, exploited, held captive, forced into labor and sold into sex and human trafficking markets. And with some half a million unaccompanied minor immigrants crossing the southern border and being released to adult sponsors under what critics call a fairly lax system, more are ending up in the same situation.
“There’s a serious problem,” said Tara Lee Rodas, who recently became a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whistleblower, when she reported that children were being handed over to gang members and people with criminal convictions.
“I don’t believe people know there’s a problem, and the reason I can say that with confidence is that I had no idea what was going on. But kids were telling me how they were lured and didn’t know who they were going to,” she said.