Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday that every female child over the age of 10 is being given a pregnancy test after being taken into custody by federal law enforcement at the border because of the high risk of sexual assault during their journey to the U.S.
“As you know, sir, very unfortunately because of the increase of violence, at ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], when we have families with children, we have to give every girl a pregnancy test over 10. This is not a safe journey,” Nielsen told the House Homeland Security Committee during a hearing.
Nielsen said girls who arrive without parents as part of large smuggled groups or those who travel with their parents are both at risk for being raped while traveling more than 1,000 miles from Northern Triangle countries to the U.S.-Mexico border.
The DHS secretary said the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have told her they want minors who arrive alone to be returned back to their home countries, but that the U.S. government is legally not permitted to do that because of trafficking laws that seek to protect legitimately trafficked kids.
“Under the law, we cannot send children from other countries back except for Mexico and Canada. So the Northern Triangle governments have said to us … ‘Please send us our children back, we want them reunited with our families and communities here,'” Nielsen said.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 mandates children from noncontiguous countries must be considered for asylum, making it nearly impossible for that minor to return home.
[Also read: Senate Judiciary power duo demand investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against minors at HHS facilities]
