Unaccompanied minors who illegally enter the United States are being released to child traffickers by the U.S. government, condemning those youth to a life of forced labor or worse, and a business arm of the Cherokee Nation is facilitating that abuse, according to whistleblower testimony provided this month to members of the U.S. Senate.

“Make no mistake: Children were not going to their parents. They were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely with government officials complicit in it,” said Deborah White, a career worker at the federal General Services Administration who was lent in May 2021 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHSORR).

White was among several whistleblowers and experts who addressed a roundtable of U.S. senators on July 9. The event, “The Exploitation Crisis: How the US Government Fails to Protect Migrant Children from Trafficking & Abuse,” was led by U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

White repeatedly criticized Cherokee Federal, the non-governmental organization (NGO) that received the federal contract to run the Pomona, Calif., processing site where she temporarily worked.

“Cherokee Federal staffed the site with several unqualified, unvetted, and quite frankly dangerous contractors with access to vulnerable children that did not get the appropriate support, services, or humanity that they deserved after a most treacherous journey,” White said. “I have seen these children. I have interviewed these children. And I have stories that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The HHSORR program is the biggest failure in government history that I have ever witnessed. Despite raising case after case of trafficking, HHSORR leadership and the contractor allowed children to be trafficked on their watch and the taxpayers continue to fund it.”

She said government and Cherokee Federal officials prioritized swift processing rather than the well-being of children.

“Repeatedly, the program prioritized speed over safety,” White said. “HHSORR and Cherokee Federal, the prime contractor, created a ‘strike team’ to remove children faster, ignoring warnings that came from case managers that children were being trafficked.”

Cherokee Federal is a business arm of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. A current brochure for Cherokee Federal states, “Cherokee Nation is the sole owner of Cherokee Nation Businesses—the independent, board-governed company that operates Cherokee Federal’s group of tribally owned LLCs.”

White highlighted several data points she said should have been red flags for federal officials and Cherokee Federal.

“One case in Florida had over 12 children linked to one sponsor at multiple addresses,” White said. “Children were sent to addresses that were abandoned houses or nonexistent in some cases. In Michigan, a child was sent to an open field.”

Lankford: ‘Who Else Knew About That?’

White said she notified her superiors of concerns about children being handed over to traffickers, but nothing was done in response.

“I had multiple cases that I reported on,” White said. “One in particular, where we sent 329 children to an address in Houston, Texas.”

That example grabbed lawmakers’ attention.

“That’s a really generous foster family, isn’t it, to take on 329 kids?” quipped Johnson.

U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, also questioned White about the Houston site, asking, “Who else knew about that?”

“The entire executive leadership at Health and Human Services knew about it as well as the Office of Inspector General and the HSI, Homeland Security investigative division,” White responded.

“So were additional children being sent there even after it was identified that we had 100 children there, 200 children there, 300 children there?” Lankford asked.

“Yes, senator,” White said. “I think before I left the site that number may have been up to 500-plus.”

In addition to career government employees being notified of the situation, White said officials with Cherokee Federal knew of the concerns about the Houston location.

In February 2023, the New York Times reported that federal officials had lost track of as many of 85,000 children who illegally entered the United States and were released to “sponsors” who could no longer be located. Officials fear many of those children have been trafficked.

White noted “this was the first time” that Cherokee Federal had been “in charge of child welfare,” and said Cherokee Federal was paid $700 million for services through a no-bid contract.

According to USAspending, the official open data source of federal spending information, the Cherokee Nation received a contract with a total value of more than $706 million for handling migrant processing from April 27, 2021 to Nov. 19, 2021.

The size of the contract, the lack of competitive bidding, and Cherokee Federal’s lack of experience in the field of migrant processing surprised one lawmaker.

“Seven hundred million dollars for sole source for somebody who’s previously been responsible for other abuses? I’m just scratching my head here,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

White noted that Cherokee Federal received another federal contract to process Afghan refugees even after she and others raised concerns about the vendor’s work processing unaccompanied migrant youth.

Cherokee Federal Touts Its ‘Humanitarian Solutions Team’

This is not the first time questions have been raised about Cherokee Federal.

In a 2023 report, Project Veritas, which describes itself as a nonprofit journalism news organization conducting undercover reporting, released hidden-camera footage of Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former Biden transition team member who later became a principal of Deep Water Associates.

In the video, Lorenzen-Strait bragged of his work on behalf of Cherokee Federal. At one point, when Lorenzen-Strait was asked if Cherokee Federal was involved in processing migrants, he stated that his firm was responsible for Cherokee Federal receiving the contract.

“Cherokee Nation is not this benevolent humanitarian actor,” Lorenzen-Strait stated. “They make most of their money with alcohol and gambling.”

He later stated, “I helped them move into the migration or refugee space this year.”

The Cherokee Federal website currently touts its “humanitarian solutions team,” and tacitly compares illegal immigrants to members of the Cherokee Nation who walked the Trail of Tears in the 1800s.

“Every year, countless individuals find themselves uprooted due to economic, environmental, and other destabilizing events,” Cherokee Federal’s website states. “These migrations, often forced and traumatic, result in people stepping into an uncertain future, away from the safety of their homes. As resettlement survivors and descendants, we understand the intricacies of these challenges. We partner with federal, state, service organizations, and nonprofits, offering our expertise in response to numerous humanitarian crises.”

Cherokee Federal lists “resettlement support” among the services it provides, and states that it will “hire interpreters, arrange transportation, and ensure refugees can easily access a variety immigration resources.” Cherokee Federal lists the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a customer on its website.

Tara Rodas, another whistleblower who spoke at the Senate event, said children have been handed over to sponsors “who have known criminal histories” including gang affiliation.

Rodas served as the deputy to the director of the federal case-management team at one processing site.

“If I had not seen with my own eyes these children, I could not believe that a federal government agency is using billions of taxpayer dollars to place vulnerable migrant children into the hands of sponsors with criminal history, gang affiliation, to whom many are not even their parents,” Rodas said. “It is shocking and shameful.”

In Florida, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis has clashed with federal officials over concerns about human trafficking of migrant children.

“Florida has stopped licensing foster and group homes working with ORR until a cooperative agreement was reached with the federal government,” said Shevaun Harris, who serves as secretary for the Florida Department of Children and Families. “This action was necessary due to inadequate vetting of sponsors and lack of follow-up by ORR to ensure the safety and well-being of the children placed with their sponsor.”

Harris said federal officials refused to engage in a cooperative agreement, objecting to the transparency measures sought by Florida officials.

“I could not bring a child into my home to foster or to adopt without there being supervised visitation, home studies, background checks, extensive work being done to make sure it’s a good match,” Harris said. “At a bare minimum, we should require ORR to follow basic standards and requirements in ensuring that these individuals are who they say they are and that these kids are safe when they’re placed in these homes.”

Given the severity of the alleged wrongdoing, one senator questioned if the problem may be worse than simple incompetence.

“Are they in cahoots with the human traffickers?” Johnson asked, referring to Cherokee Federal and other vendors. “Are they part and parcel of the same organization, funded by the American taxpayer? I mean, is that how bad this is? The American taxpayer literally funding the human-trafficking operation?”

“I’d say, ‘Follow the money,’” Harris responded.

She noted a report from a Florida grand jury that reviewed the issue “reads like a horror story in terms of the monies going to these NGOs.”

The Cherokee Federal brochure states that “37% of the profits from our government contracting programs are distributed back to Cherokee Nation’s general fund,” and says that profit “creates an unrestricted pool of funds” for tribal officials.

Officials with the Cherokee Nation did not respond to a request for comment.

White warned lawmakers that the problem of exploitation of child migrants is severe—and taxpayer money is helping facilitate those crimes.

“Children continue to be trafficked into America, and we are paying for it,” White said. “Please understand, this is taxpayer-funded child slavery, sanctioned by our government and brought to you by NGOs like Cherokee Federal.”

 

NOTE: In the third paragraph the date and title of the round table have been corrected since publication.