Tennessee state representative accuses Christian foster care group of 'trafficking' migrants

This Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 photo shows the Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Mich. Bethany is one of the nation's largest adoption agencies. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
This Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018 photo shows the Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, Mich. Bethany is one of the nation's largest adoption agencies. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

On Monday, Tennessee state Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, accused a Christian foster care organization of facilitating human trafficking by working with the federal government to place unaccompanied migrant children with vetted sponsors in the country.

"This whole thing reeks of impropriety, and I'm very concerned about these children that are being pushed into this trafficking situation," Todd said. "Our own federal government is trafficking. They're hauling them all over the country and dropping them in neighborhoods, flying them in in the middle of the night."

The state representative's comments came Monday during the final meeting of the state's special committee to investigate issues surrounding refugees and immigrants. The effort started with concerns about a now-closed shelter in Chattanooga.

Leaders with Bethany Christian Services, which has an office in Chattanooga, were among several called to testify during the committee's final meeting in Nashville.

It is not clear on what basis Todd believes the administration of President Joe Biden is trafficking children, which typically entails taking minors by violence or coercion and forcing them into sex work or other kinds of labor for profit.

(READ MORE: Tennessee leaders who accuse Biden administration of 'human trafficking' may be misusing the term)

Bethany Christian Services, a national organization, has supported unaccompanied children since the 1960s and helped settle 40 unaccompanied children in Tennessee last year through a transitional foster care program, said Amy Scott, state director for the group. The program is federally funded and does not receive any money from the state, she said.

"Children are children. An unaccompanied child wants what every child wants - to be with their family and to be safe," Scott said in her opening testimony. "We help unaccompanied children as a faith-based organization because Jesus calls Christians to welcome the stranger, love their neighbor and serve the overlooked and ignored. We believe that all children, no matter where they are from or what they have been through, deserve to be treated with dignity and care."

Scott said her organization follows longstanding federal immigration policy. The organization has received around 100 children since March 2019, with about 15-20 staying in Tennessee after locating a sponsor, Scott said.

(READ MORE: Chattanooga migrant shelter only placed one child in the city, state senator says)

Todd asked the Bethany Christian Services representatives why they would place unaccompanied children with relatives who may be in the United States illegally. He said he would not trust any documentation people had to prove a relationship with a child and asked why organizations like Bethany Christian Services were not placing unaccompanied children with a family member in their home country.

Dana Anderson, vice president of refugee and immigrant children's services at Bethany, said the trends for why children are coming to the United States are different now than when she began working on the issue 17 years ago. Children today are fleeing violence and gang recruitment and often come to be reunited with a family member who fled earlier because of credible violent threats.

Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, said it is a commandment in the Christian tradition to provide for those in need. However, he said, the United States cannot help everyone.

"We can't go and solve all the world's problems unless we had all the world's resources and we still might not be able to do it," Williams said.

The state formed a special committee to investigate immigration in May after WRCB broke the news that unaccompanied children were being flown into Chattanooga - sometimes at night - and housed in a shelter in Highland Park before being placed with sponsors. The state had approved a license for the facility in May 2020, and children began arriving in November 2020.

The Tennessee Department of Children's Services suspended the residential child care license for the organization operating the facility, the Baptiste Group, in July after accusations of child abuse. Three individuals have since been arrested in connection to the facility and a case of whether to fully revoke the Baptiste Group's child care license is before an administrative law judge.

Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro and co-chair of the committee, said the group of legislators will draft a report on its findings, likely before the January session of the state legislature.

Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.

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