(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Alicia Hopper, a researcher on human trafficking, provided stunning testimony to Congress on Tuesday about the alleged organ-harvesting of child migrants.
Hopper’s testimony came at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on child migrant trafficking. She told lawmakers that she recently interviewed a convicted sex trafficker in a Central American prison, who told her that organ-harvesting is common in Mexico.
“In my conversation with the former sex trafficker and ex-Sinaloa cartel member, he revealed the lengths family members will go to for a dying relative, illustrating how organ traffickers exploit this vulnerability,” Hopper’s written testimony stated.
Alicia Hopper Testifies Before Committee On Homeland Security Regarding Human Traffickers Harvesting Organs of Trafficked Victims — Including Children.
HOPPER: "My colleague…testified last year about a 12-year-old boy whose eye was harvested in Mexico for $15,000." pic.twitter.com/seQPBIbpoN
— Headline USA (@HeadlineUSA) November 19, 2024
“These traffickers often take what he described as a ‘custom order’ for specific organs and then target areas where migrants congregate on their way to the U.S. border. Migrant camps, in particular, serve as hotspots for exploitation, leaving individuals especially susceptible to these heinous acts.”
Hopper further recounted about how a 12-year-old boy’s eye was allegedly harvest in Mexico—an allegation made public last year.
Democratic lawmakers expressed skepticism about Hopper’s testimony. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., asked Hopper whether there are any court cases in Mexico about human trafficking. Hopper responded that her information came from her jailhouse interview, and she’s keeping her source confidential to protect him from his fellow cartel members.
Ivey also asked about the matter to J.J. Carrell a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent. Carrell said he’s interviewed people who say organ harvesting is happening inside U.S. borders.
“Yes, it’s happening in America,” he said in response to Ivey’s question. Carrell said he doesn’t know if anyone has been charged for organ harvesting.
Hopper and Carrell’s testimony follows a July hearing about the same issue. At that hearing, whistleblower Deborah White, who worked in Health and Human Services’ Unaccompanied Child Program, told lawmakers that the Biden administration is sanctioning “taxpayer-funded child slavery.”
“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,” White said, referring to government contractor Cherokee Federal.
Zero Coverage on this today: During a hearing on Capitol Hill today, multiple whistleblowers from various government agencies responsible for unaccompanied migrant children came forward to claim that the US government (HHS), in collaboration with a federal contractor named… pic.twitter.com/YpaLAzY2VZ
— Real News No Bullshit (@NewsNotBs) July 10, 2024
“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 they deserved after a most treacherous journey,” White added.
“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 HHS ORR program is the biggest failure in government history that I have ever witnessed.”
All the witnesses have called for a drastic increase in border security, which is expected to happen under President Donald Trump.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.