Released by United States Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana – November 7, 2023
WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and 16 Senate Republican colleagues introduced the Preventing the Recycling of Immigrants is Necessary for Trafficking Suspension (PRINTS) Act, aimed at combatting trafficking and child recycling by giving U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) the authority to fingerprint non-citizens under the age of 14.
“President Biden’s border crisis has enabled human traffickers and cartels to exploit children with impunity,” said Dr. Cassidy. “We need to give Border Patrol every tool we can to help them stop human traffickers and save young lives.”
“Under President Biden’s open border policies, we are witnessing a devastating humanitarian crisis, and children are the primary victims,” said Senator Blackburn. “Abusing and using a child again and again is one of the most heinous acts imaginable, and yet it happens every day along the southern border. Empowering border patrol agents to fingerprint non-citizens under the age of 14 would give them the tools they need to identify victims of child recycling and stop this abuse in its tracks. Given that the Biden administration just carelessly lost track of 85,000 migrant children, passing this legislation could not be more critical.”
The PRINTS Act:
- Gives CBP the authority to fingerprint non-citizens under the age of 14 in order to combat trafficking and child recycling;
- Requires DHS to publicly report the number of apprehensions in a given month involving child traffickers who falsely claimed that an accompanying child was a relative
- Requires DHS to submit an annual report to Congress identifying the number of minors who were fingerprinted pursuant to this Act;
- Removes the Attorney General’s authority to waive fingerprinting requirements for those illegally crossing the southern border; and
- Criminalizes child recycling.
Cassidy and Blackburn are joined by U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Hoeven (R-ND), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Katie Britt (R-AL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in introducing the legislation.
Background
- 1 in every 3 human trafficking victims is a child.
- In 2019, ICE identified 600 children who were “recycled,” with one child being brought across the border as many as eight different times.
- Recent reports indicate that the Department of Health and Human Services has lost track of over 85,000 children released to sponsors, subjecting these children to exploitation, abuse, and forced labor.
- Despite these statistics, current DHS regulation and federal law prohibit Border Patrol agents from fingerprinting children under the age of 14.
