John Walsh rips border 'travesty' and warns of child trafficking
The "America's Most Wanted" host speaks with Fox News Digital outside the sixth annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards, where he was honored with a career achievement award for decades of fighting crime.
John Walsh, who turned the tragedy of his son's murder into a decades-long career helping solve cases for the families of other victims, has a new warning about child trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The "America's Most Wanted" host made the remarks on the red carpet earlier this month as he was honored with the career achievement award at the sixth-annual Critics Choice Real TV Awards.
"What's happening at the border is an incredible travesty," Walsh told Fox News Digital.
He said cartels in Mexico are teaming up with violent Central American gangs to traffic unaccompanied children for profit.
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John Walsh and Callahan Walsh pose for a portrait during the 2019 Winter TCA at The Langham Huntington on Feb. 12, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Maarten de Boer/Getty Images)
The alleged plot works like this: The cartels take money from the parents, promising them that their children will be transported safely to the U.S. to find work. But once they're across the border, the gangs swoop in.
"They get paid by the parents, who think they're getting their daughter or their son a job in America. They're not," he said. "They get them across the border, and the cartels and the gangs take over, MS-13, Venezuelan gangs, violent."
WATCH: John Walsh rips border 'travesty' and warns of child trafficking
"And those little girls, and some little boys, are being trafficked," he added.
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A group of migrants attempts to enter the U.S. illegally by rushing a border wall on March 21, 2024. (James Breeden for New York Post/Mega)
He said the border crisis is part of his motivation for getting back on the hunt for criminals.
As the Biden administration struggles to deal with overwhelming illegal immigration across the southern border, communities around the country are reeling from crime blamed on foreigners in the country without permission.
Earlier this year, the NYPD blamed a "wave of migrant crime," largely attributed to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, for fueling surging robberies in the Big Apple. And last week, officials in Texas, New York, Indiana and Maryland all alleged that shocking crimes against women and children were committed by illegal suspects.
Unaccompanied minors walk toward Border Patrol vehicles after crossing over from Mexico on May 9, 2023, in El Paso, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
A 12-year-old Houston girl was found strangled and without her pants under a bridge. Two New York City 13-year-olds were tied together by the wrists before their attacker raped one of them. And Missouri police found a missing 14-year-old Indiana girl riding in an SUV with five illegals.
Walsh also noted that the federal government has acknowledged tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors cross the border every year and questioned the safety of allowing that to happen.
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The government says unaccompanied minors encountered by Border Patrol or Homeland Security agents are transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the federal Administration for Children and Families. But at a congressional hearing last year, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed the Biden administration on reports that more than 85,000 unaccompanied migrant children were unaccounted for, "leading to their exploitation and forced labor."
"Where did those kids go?" Walsh asked. "Who took those kids? We know who took them. Sex traffickers. So our work is going to be cut out big time."
Walsh has decades of experience as both the father of a murdered child and as an iconic crimefighter whose TV show helped lead police to more than 1,200 arrests and 61 child rescues. Its reboot on FOX in the fall led to four more arrests, he said.
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"What's happening at the border is an incredible travesty," John Walsh said. (Getty Images)
Speaking alongside his son and co-host Callahan, he also answered a question about the public's fascination with the true crime genre and the success of "America's Most Wanted."
"I always believed that people would help if you showed them a way to help," he said.
John Walsh and Callahan Walsh, co-hosts of "America's Most Wanted." (Michael Becker/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC.)
It comes down to citizens wanting to improve their own communities, the son said.
"America is the greatest country in the world, but our crime rates are high," Callahan Walsh told Fox News Digital. "That's the bottom line, and people don't want to be victimized. They don't want to be targeted by gangs, by bad individuals in their communities, and they want to make their communities safer."
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"America's Most Wanted," he added, gives community members a way to turn in the bad guys without having to call the cops or be forced to testify in court.
"We guarantee you can remain anonymous," he said. "Just give us that information. We'll make sure this guy gets taken down. And the public, they're our force multiplier in this."
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