EXCLUSIVE: As drugs flow across border, new bill would slash traffickers' government benefits

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Human trafficking victim recounts horrors of life at the mercy of criminals

Karla Jacinto never wanted to become a statistic, but at 12 years old she was trafficked in Mexico. She describes the brutal torture she endured for four years at the hands of pimps and criminals, and how she reclaimed her life. 

On the heels of another record-setting year for illegal border crossings, Sen. Marsha Blackburn is rolling out legislation targeting traffickers' wallets, denying them access to welfare, public housing and other federal benefits.

"This legislation ensures that hardworking American taxpayers — already crushed by inflation — are not forced to fund the lifestyles of offenders who are making our country more dangerous," the Tennessee Republican said in a statement provided to Fox News.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee (right) led an all-female delegation of GOP senators to the southern border in early January 2023. (Matt Leach/Fox News Digital)

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Blackburn's Stop Taxpayer Funding of Traffickers Act would ban anyone charged with drug or human trafficking at the United States' international borders from receiving federal benefits including welfare, Social Security, public housing and any retirement, health or disability benefits. Accused traffickers would also be barred from receiving federal grants, contracts, loans and commercial or professional licenses.

Suspects who are later acquitted or have their charges dropped would be eligible for back pay of benefits under the act.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM SHARES HER HORRIFIC STORY:

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The act includes smuggling, transporting and harboring individuals within its definition of "human trafficking."

Crossings at the southwest border have continued to skyrocket under the Biden administration. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 2.4 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022, up from about 458,000 in 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection. Revenue from human smuggling operations is difficult to track, but some experts estimate cartels are raking in billions of dollars each year.

"For two years, President Biden’s open border policies have emboldened the cartels and caused human trafficking to grow to a $13 billion industry," Blackburn's statement reads. "We cannot continue to incentivize this blatant criminal activity."

The vast majority of drugs seized by Border Patrol agents are confiscated at the southern border, according to CBP data. Methamphetamine has been the most prevalent drug seized so far in fiscal year 2023, followed closely by marijuana. Fentanyl seizures have increased nearly sixfold since 2019, with Border Patrol agents finding about 14,700 pounds of the substance last year.

Customs and Border Protection reported confiscating around 14,700 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2022. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)

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"Traffickers have a devastating impact on communities across the country, particularly border communities," Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said in a statement supporting Blackburn's legislation. "For these criminals to exploit a gap in the law to reap taxpayer funded benefits is unconscionable." 

Blackburn led a delegation of GOP senators to the southern border in January to see the effects of the migrant crisis firsthand. While there, Blackburn and Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi met with law enforcement, ranchers and a victim of human trafficking.

"[Traffickers] are causing untold suffering in every corner of our country — stealing lives, destroying families, and devastating communities at record rates," Britt said in a statement. "It is time to seal and secure the border and end the incentives and loopholes that are fueling the crisis."