Sunday, June 15, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Whistleblower to Congress: US government child trafficking “middleman”

Published 5 May 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Latin American children.
3 minute read

During a hearing in the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Judiciary last week, whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) testified about how the US government has effectively become a “middleman” in the highly lucrative trafficking of Latin American children at the Mexico-US border.

According to U.S. Customs statistics, the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border has increased from just over 33,000 in 2020 to over 146,000 in 2021 – and 152,000 in 2022. In the first months of 2023 alone, over 70,000 unaccompanied children have been encountered, Fox News notes.

When the children are found at the border, they are transferred to Health and Human Services (HHS) and then taken care of by a sponsor – usually a parent or other family member already in the United States.

Under the Biden administration, however, a number of reports have warned that agency officials have failed to make contact with over 85,000 of the migrant children. More recently, there have also been reports of ignoring signs of what has been described as an “explosive” increase in child labor, with migrant children forced into slave labor to pay their traffickers, working in very difficult conditions.

Tara Lee Rodas, who has a background with HHS, says that unaccompanied children are forced to “work overnight shifts in slaughterhouses, factories and restaurants to pay their debts to smugglers and traffickers” and that some of the children are also forced into prostitution. She describes how she started volunteering to help migrant minors under the auspices of HHS and how it didn’t turn out the way she expected.

I thought I was going to help place children in loving homes. Instead, I discovered that children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network, that begins with recruiting in home country, smuggling to the US border, and ends when ORR delivers a child to a sponsor. Some sponsors are criminals and traffickers and members of trans-national criminal organizations. Some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income. This is why we are witnessing an explosion of labor trafficking, the whistleblower explains.

Now, whether it’s intentional or not, it could be argued, that the United States government has become the middleman in a large-scale, multi-billion-dollar child trafficking operation that is run by bad actors seeking to profit off of the lives of children, she continues.

“Modern-day slavery with wicked overlords”

She goes on to describe her observations that some of the children spoke only Indian dialects and therefore could not communicate at all with government officials and were thus completely at the mercy of their sponsors, as well as “numerous cases” of children being forced to work for their sponsor until the debt was paid off.

Realizing that we were not offering the children the American dream, but instead putting them in modern-day slavery with wicked overlords, was a terrible revelation. A terrible revelation. These children are a captive victim population with no access to law enforcement or knowledge of their rights. They are extorted, abused, neglected, and that is why I blew the whistle in 2021, she concludes.

Others who come into contact with migrant children in their work also report that the children have told them how criminal cartels transported them through Mexico and kept them in warehouses guarded by armed guards.

Jessica Vaughn of the Center for Immigration Studies says the system needs to change.

They have been carelessly funneled through the custody of U.S. government agencies and contractors, and handed off to very lightly vetted sponsors (who are usually also here illegally) in our communities without regard to their safety and well-being. There is no question that the system for processing minors who cross illegally is dysfunctional, and has been for some time, and needs to be fixed.

Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Josh Hawley are demanding that federal officials respond to the allegations and detail how they may have “lost” 85,000 migrant children in two years.

“The FBI must mount a full-scale effort to locate these missing children and to bring to justice the criminals who are holding them in modern-day slavery”, Hawley writes, and goes on to call the Biden administration morally responsible for the situation.

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Trump warns Iran: “The full might of the US will come down on you”

Donald Trump's USA

Published today 14:15
– By Editorial Staff
If Iran attacks US targets, the US will respond with full force, according to Donald Trump.
2 minute read

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump warned Iran against attacking American interests and promised a powerful military response if it did so.

If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

On Saturday, Israel continued its bombing campaign, attacking Iran’s defense ministry headquarters in Tehran and a natural gas processing facility linked to the South Pars gas field in Bushehr province.

Trump continued to claim that the US was not involved in Israel’s attacks but asserted that he could “easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel and end this conflict”

At the same time, Iran announced that it was suspending the sixth round of nuclear negotiations with Washington with immediate effect.

Trump claims he can easily end the conflict. Photo: facsimile/Truth Social

29 children killed by Israeli missile

At least four people were killed and over 100 injured in the Israeli coastal city of Bat Yam after an Iranian missile attack during the night, according to the city’s mayor on Sunday morning as rescue efforts were still ongoing.

Israel’s ambulance service reported that at least seven people were killed in the country during the night, including a 10-year-old boy and a woman in her 20s. Over 140 people were injured in several attacks.

In Tehran, an Israeli missile struck a high-rise building, killing at least 60 people, including 29 children, according to Iranian authorities. In an earlier attack near a home in northern Israel, three women were reported killed and ten others injured.

In response to the attacks, Tehran fired another volley of missiles at Israel. Iranian missiles reached Israeli airspace in an attack that, according to Israeli emergency services, killed four people in an apartment building in the Galilee region. Waves of Iranian attacks began on Saturday and continued through the night and into the early morning hours, but it remains unclear how many buildings were hit in total.

Reports: Israel desperate to drag US into war against Iran

The escalation in the Middle East

Published today 13:49
– By Editorial Staff
So far, Donald Trump has chosen to distance himself from Israel's attacks on Iran.
2 minute read

Over the past 48 hours, Israel has asked the Trump administration to join the war against Iran in order to eliminate the country’s nuclear program. This has been reported by two Israeli officials.

Israel reportedly lacks the advanced bombs and heavy bombers needed to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Fordow, which is built deep inside a mountain complex.

The US, on the other hand, has these resources available in the immediate area, but the Trump administration has so far publicly distanced itself from Israel’s operation, arguing that it would be illegitimate for Iran to retaliate by attacking US targets.

A direct US attack on Iran – even if limited to a single facility – would, according to analysts, definitely draw the US into the war.

Israel is determined to “eliminate” Iran’s nuclear program, and if the Fordow facility remains operational even after the ongoing bombing campaign, the operation will be considered at least a partial failure, according to analysts.

An Israeli official told Axios that the US may join the war and that President Trump, in a recent conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even suggested that he would do so if deemed necessary.

“Cannot be prevented”

However, a White House spokesman denied these plans on Friday. Another US official confirmed on Saturday that Israel has urged the Trump administration to join the war, but said the administration is not currently considering it.

– Whatever happens today cannot be prevented, a senior official said on Saturday, referring to the Israeli bombings.

– But we have the ability to negotiate a successful peaceful resolution to this conflict if Iran is willing. The fastest way for Iran to accomplish peace is to give up its nuclear weapons program, he continued.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, told Fox News on Friday that “the entire operation… really has to be completed with the elimination of Fordow”.

According to Israeli sources, the proposal for US participation in striking the Fordow facility has been discussed on several occasions with the US since the attacks began. An Israeli source says that the US is seriously considering this request and that Israel is now hoping for Trump’s approval.

China condemns Israeli bombings

The escalation in the Middle East

Published today 10:17
– By Editorial Staff
China's UN ambassador Fu Cong calls on Israel to cease its attacks on Iran.
2 minute read

China condemns Israel’s attacks on Iran as a violation of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and demands an immediate halt to the military strikes. Beijing warns that Israel’s actions risk pushing the region toward a dangerous escalation with serious consequences.

China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong stressed that Israel had violated Iran’s sovereignty and warned that the conflict could have far-reaching consequences.

– China condemns Israel’s violations of Iran’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity and urges Israel to immediately stop all risky military actions.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday, Fu emphasized China’s concern:

– China opposes the intensification of contradictions and the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the consequences that may be brought about by Israel’s actions, he said.

Fu also warned that the ongoing developments risk undermining diplomatic negotiations on Iran’s nuclear issue.

Extensive bombing

The Chinese statements came after Israel carried out extensive bombing raids against Iran on Friday, attacking over 100 targets and killing a large number of military and civilian personnel. Israel has stated that the attacks mark the start of a longer operation aimed at preventing Tehran from building a nuclear weapon.

Iran responded with retaliatory air and drone strikes over the weekend, and several explosions have been reported in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In Israel, at least eight people are reported to have been killed and around 150 injured.

As a result of the tense situation, China has issued travel advice to its citizens in Israel and Iran regarding the “complex and serious” security situation. Those in Israel are particularly warned of the risk of missile and drone attacks.

Trump vows to defend Israel against Iranian retaliation

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 13 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Trump has been described as the most pro-Israel president in modern times.
2 minute read

Donald Trump promises that the US will “defend itself and Israel” if Iran retaliates after Israel’s latest “preemptive” attacks on Iranian targets.

The statement was made in a phone call with Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday morning, according to the television network.

During the night, Israel’s defense forces (IDF) carried out attacks on a large number of targets in Iran, including residential areas, military installations, and the nuclear facility in Natanz. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the purpose of the attack was to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iranian media reports that at least five people were killed and 20 injured in Tehran.

Among the dead were Hossein Salami, a top general in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, army chief of staff Gholam Ali Rashid, and nuclear scientists Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoon Abbasi.

The attack occurred two days before planned nuclear talks between the US and Iran in Oman.

“Not involved militarily”

Trump said that he had spoken with Netanyahu several times in the days leading up to the attack and knew about the plans in advance. However, he emphasized that “the US was not involved militarily” and expressed hope for new talks in the future.

– Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.

Iran’s army has warned that “a bitter lesson awaits Netanyahu”, and the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said that Israel “should expect severe punishment”.

Trump added that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) is on high alert:

CENTCOM is on high alert, the US will defend itself and Israel if Iran retaliates”, according to Fox.

Trump comments on the attack on Truth Social. Photo: facsimile/Truth Social

Deeply aligned with Israel

Prior to the attack, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US “remain committed to a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear issue”, but that the country’s leadership “first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon”.

Trump has previously been described as the most pro-Israel president in modern American history and has repeatedly been praised by Benjamin Netanyahu as an indispensable ally. Many Republicans in the president’s staff and inner circle are also staunch supporters of Israel, often for religious reasons.

Furthermore, the US provides billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Israel every year. The Israel lobby, led by influential organizations such as AIPAC, plays a significant role in US domestic and foreign policy and has for decades influenced the US position on issues relating to the Middle East.

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