HHS whistleblower says she was retaliated against for reporting gangs who sponsor migrant children

Health and Human Services whistleblower Tara Rodas says she faced retaliation from the department after she reported concerns that unaccompanied immigrant children were being placed in the hands of sponsors who were affiliated with the notorious Salvadorian MS-13 gang.

"Interestingly, when I discovered that there was MS-13 actually sponsoring the children.... this began when a DHS whistleblower came forward and then alerted us that MS-13 and 18th Street gangs were getting the children, it only took them less than three weeks if you can imagine, to walk me off the site under threat of investigation," Rodas said on the Wednesday edition of the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "That's what happened to me."

She said that it was unbelievable that she was the one who suffered retaliation when the HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement Unaccompanied Children program should have been changed to protect the minors at the border.

"They knew they had a problem," she said. "They could have easily changed the system to make it safe for children. And instead, they decided to silence me when I brought these concerns. These are grave concerns."

On Tuesday, Rodas and fellow whistleblower Deborah White participated in a roundtable discussion about the exploitation of missing migrant children. It was hosted by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

Rodas said during her testimony that unaccompanied migrant children are funneled through a network of U.S. government agencies, contractors and nongovernmental organizations. She said that people working for these agencies and organizations have little or no training on how to protect children from trafficking or abuse. 

She said that the Office of Refugee Resettlement Unaccompanied Children program is falsely advertised as a family reunification program.

"Less than 40% of the children are going to their parents," Rodas said. 

She said that in 2021 it was revealed that MS-13 gang members were sponsoring some of these unaccompanied migrant children that have come to the U.S. southern border.

The Department of Justice identifies the gang MS-13 as "well-organized" and "heavily involved in lucrative illegal enterprises" and "being notorious for its use of violence to achieve its objectives."

Johnson during the roundtable discussion asked Rodas if U.S. government agencies are willingly allowing children to be placed in the hands of MS-13 due to the overwhelming state of the open border policies under the Biden administration. "Yes, senator," Rodas responded. "I wish I could tell you differently."

Whistleblower White said on the John Solomon Reports podcast that the federal effort to find children safe shelter once in America was rushed like an assembly line, raising the risk that children got placed in unsafe shelters or with sponsors who weren’t properly vetted.

“The mantra was speed over safety,” White said.

Multiple Republican lawmakers have criticized the Biden administration's open border policies, arguing that those policies are the reason all this abuse and trafficking is occurring. 

Last year it was reported that the Biden administration lost track of about 85,000 children who entered the U.S. without an adult.

"If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I do not believe I could accept that the government is responsible for using billions of taxpayer dollars annually to put children into the homes of gang members," Rodas told Just the News. "It's unthinkable. It's shameful."

HHS has not responded for comment.