Shifting Priorities Around Exploitation for the Sake of Immigration Reform

Recent reporting and concern from an Oregon senator reveal a deeply troubling pattern: A focus on a quota of 1 million deportations in the U.S. per year at the federal level is resulting in other investigations, including those aimed at stopping the exploitation of children, being put by the wayside.

It is ironic at a time when the Trump administration is working strenuously to distance the president from the late sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. This change in priorities around federal investigations comes while, just months ago, a former model came forward to allege that in the 1990s, she was passed around between Epstein and Donald Trump in what she told “The Guardian” was a “twisted game” between the two of them.

Sen. Ron Wyden’s team sent a letter this week to the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security, asking that the inspector look into the reports of decreased investigations around crimes that don’t pertain to immigration, including child sex crimes.

“HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] is also the primary federal agency that investigates sexual crimes against children; according to statistics published by DHS, in fiscal year 2020, HSI arrested more than 3,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child exploitation material, child sex tourism, and sex trafficking of children,” Wyden’s letter detailed. “HSI also identified or rescued over 1,000 victims of child exploitation. However, according to news reports, investigators at HSI are being pulled off of this critically important work in order to focus on immigration enforcement.”

Oregon is not immune to the shift in priorities. Current actions by the federal government are having a direct effect on Oregonians. This month, Willamette Week reported that ICE arrests have tripled in the state since the new administration came into power. Many of these are not the violent criminals that this administration vowed to round up. These are community members who are oftentimes showing up to immigration court, in compliance with their asylum processes, only to be arrested instead. At ICE, some staff have told reporters that their patience for arresting “gardeners” rather than child traffickers and transnational drug dealers is wearing thin.

And, as OPB reported, U.S. Homeland Security officials have violated Oregon’s Sanctuary Promise Act at least 95 times in the past year, by asking local law enforcement for help. Of note, Oregon’s attorney general is among those suing the Trump administration for sharing people’s Medicaid records with immigration enforcement officials in what is believed to be a violation of medical privacy laws.

This type of allocation does not come without cost. And at a time of skyrocketing national debt, we should all take note of what is being neglected in our pursuit of immigration reform. It would be great to see all of these internet watchdogs take the lack of urgency about child sex abuse as seriously as they did the “Pizzagate” investigation tied to Hillary Clinton. Voters should be outraged that this administration is prioritizing arbitrary ICE arrest numbers over the safety of Americans’ daughters and sons.

This article appears in Source Weekly August 7, 2025.