COLUMBIA – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson visited the southern border Tuesday to get a first-hand look and be briefed by the Texas Department of Public Safety about the many issues there that affect South Carolina. Attorneys general Chris Carr from Georgia and Jason Miyares from Virginia were also on the trip to El Paso, Texas.
“Every state is a border state because we all see the effects of the Biden administration’s open border policy,” Attorney General Wilson said. “We have State Grand Jury cases that have involved ties to Mexican cartels and resulted in drugs being brought across the border and into South Carolina.”
Millions of people have poured across the border under the Biden administration. The Department of Homeland Security reports that, between February 2021 through October 2023, 2.5 million people encountered at the southern border were released into the U.S. with notices to either appear in immigration court or report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Another estimated 1.6 million were so-called “gotaways,” people who crossed the border and evaded authorities.
Besides focusing on border policy and drug trafficking, Attorney General Wilson is also gathering information about human trafficking. In February, he and attorneys general from 21 other states sent a letter demanding answers from the Biden administration about the trafficking of minor children. A report found that unaccompanied immigrant children in the custody of the federal government are being released into unsafe conditions, including into potential human trafficking. The Biden administration revealed that it cannot locate 85,000 migrant children for which it is responsible, and a May 2024 Inspector General’s report revealed that there are more than 291,000 unaccompanied children who have not been issued a notice to appear.
“South Carolina’s Human Trafficking Task Force is part of my office, and I’m dedicated to fighting trafficking, so I’m outraged that victims could include children who were in the federal government’s care,” Attorney General Wilson said.
