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SALT LAKE CITY — Slavery and indentured servitude were banned in the United States with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, though, Sen. Mike Lee on Friday applied the conditions to some immigrants trying to cross into the U.S. at the southern border.
Lee was one of five Republican senators who visited the U.S.-Mexico border this week, and spoke at a press conference near the banks of the Rio Grande in Mission, Texas, after touring the border with law enforcement officials.
"Until last night, I believed that these things, for the most part, had been relegated to the history books in the United States of America," Lee said, speaking of slavery and indentured servitude. "Last night I heard the term 'indentured servitude' used as something describing an ongoing concern in the United States of America."
He used the term to describe "those who have been brought on this harsh journey from other places in Central and South America, where people are paying thousands and thousands of dollars per head — money that in many cases they don't have, at least up front."
Those migrants are then forced to pay back that money throughout the journey or after they reach their destination, Lee said, drawing the comparison to the practice commonly used as a way for Europeans to gain passage to the American colonies in exchange for labor.
"This of course is unlawful, it's even unconstitutional," said Lee, who pointed the finger at the Biden administration, which, in his words, "refuses to enforce laws on the book" to stem illegal immigration.
Lee said many of the women and girls brought to the border in this manner are "forced into the sex trade and sometimes remain in the sex trade for a substantial period of time, even after they arrive, in order to pay off those debts."
"This is slavery. This is involuntary servitude. This is indentured servitude and we can't let it happen," he said.
The senator had a simple message for those considering making the journey to the southern U.S. border: "Don't do it."
Republicans have criticized President Joe Biden's handling of the border for years, and even some Democrats are calling on the White House for more security. Earlier this month the Department of Homeland security waived environmental and other reviews for construction of new portions of a border wall in Texas, despite the president's campaign promise that he would build "not another foot" of wall.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox last month joined a letter urging the president for more transparency on the crisis at the southern border, saying it impacts every state, not just those that share a border with Mexico.
Biden recently requested $105 billion from Congress to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and improve border security by adding temporary holding facilities and detention beds for recent arrivals in the U.S., as well as resettlement services for migrants.
Lee balked at the proposal: "Saying this money is for 'border security' is like describing gasoline as a fire retardant," he said in a social media post.
