Habba discusses the administration’s efforts to fight human trafficking, clears up remarks about Andrew Tate, and offers an replace on the Epstein information.
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is dedicated to taking decisive motion towards one of many nation’s most urgent but missed crises: human trafficking.
In an unique interview with The Epoch Occasions, Alina Habba, senior advisor to President Donald Trump, shared the administration’s plan and her position in addressing this crucial subject. However as Habba sees it, this isn’t nearly human trafficking—it’s about “human extortion,” a extra encompassing time period that features all the pieces from intercourse trafficking to cyber exercise and compelled labor.
“I’m centered on human extortion, which incorporates baby trafficking,” she stated in an interview with Jan Jekielek, senior editor at The Epoch Occasions and host of “American Thought Leaders.”
Habba emphasised that her efforts focus not solely on kids who’re victims of trafficking but additionally on any particular person, no matter age, who falls sufferer to intercourse trafficking, monetary extortion by means of cyber means, or trendy slavery.
Habba, 40, who served as Trump’s protection lawyer in recent times, now works as a counselor to the president, collaborating intently with authorities companies such because the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), the Division of Justice (DOJ), and the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS). She is at present drafting a collection of govt orders aimed toward strengthening laws and defending the victims of human extortion.
In her view, the disaster displays the widespread abuse of weak people who’re coerced and exploited, usually in ways in which the general public is barely conscious of. Habba pointed to examples like cyber-interactive pornography that encourages folks to harm kids, calling it a “sick” and disturbing actuality of at present’s world.
She additionally famous that the difficulty worsened through the border disaster beneath the Biden administration.
Many kids have been, misleadingly, trafficked over the border, she stated.
“They have been displaced from their households after which discovered themselves in weak positions the place they have been intercourse trafficked and labor trafficked.”
Since Trump took workplace, Habba stated she has spent practically two months absolutely understanding the size of the issue. The administration is now centered on bringing these kids house, offering them with crucial care, capturing their traffickers, and prosecuting these accountable—significantly pedophiles.
Whereas Habba declined to supply precise numbers, she said that the absence of familial DNA testing had led to a surge in baby trafficking.
In 2023, the Biden administration revoked a Trump-era program that required speedy DNA testing for unlawful immigrants crossing the border. With out this measure, she stated, people have been coming into the nation with alleged family members—reminiscent of mother and father, aunts, or uncles—with none verification. Because of this, it was not possible to find out whether or not these accompanying the youngsters have been related to cartels or engaged in human trafficking.
Since Trump’s return to workplace in January, the DNA testing program has been reinstated. Nevertheless, Habba stated there are nonetheless different crucial points to handle.
She talked about that some migrant kids have been positioned in “faux sponsor properties” by HHS. When officers visited these properties for security checks, they discovered that the youngsters have been now not there.
“So, successfully, they have been being re-trafficked,” Habba stated.
The administration is now working intently with private and non-private sector people to make sure these kids are saved secure, supplied with crucial rehabilitation, together with remedy and medical care, and positioned in safe properties.
Tate Brothers and Epstein Recordsdata
Habba addressed the latest controversy surrounding the influencer Tate brothers, who’re going through human trafficking and rape allegations. She confronted criticism after expressing in a January interview that she was a giant fan of Andrew Tate.
Habba informed Jekielek that her feedback had been manipulated and brought out of context. She clarified that her help for Tate was based mostly on his political opinions and must be seen individually from the accusations being made towards him.
“The accusations towards the Tate brothers are stomach-churning. They’re disturbing,” she stated. “There isn’t a a part of me that condones in any respect that conduct,” she stated of the stories. The Tate brothers are contesting the allegations being made towards them.
Habba additionally supplied an replace on the long-awaited Epstein information.
She stated that Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are main the investigation to evaluate the information and totally vet the accusations.
“We’re dedicated to transparency,” Habba stated, urging People to be affected person through the course of.
“We’re not going to be off the cuff. We’re not going to shoot from the hip. We’re going to take a look at issues methodically and take them very critically. And sadly, that takes time.”
Habba additionally mentioned her upbringing and household, figuring out herself as a Center Jap Catholic lady. Her mother and father, each Chaldean Catholics, emigrated from Iraq to the USA within the early Eighties to flee persecution of their house nation.
“My household is spiritual. They’re very concerned within the church, and I’m happy with that,” she stated.
Trump praised Habba when saying her appointment as counselor to the president, highlighting her dedication and loyalty.
“She has been unwavering in her loyalty, and unmatched in her resolve—standing with me by means of quite a few ‘trials,’ battles, and numerous days in Court docket,” Trump wrote on Reality Social on Dec. 8, 2024.
“As a primary era American of Center Jap Heritage, she has grow to be a job mannequin for girls in Regulation and Politics, most just lately being named Chaldean Girl of the Yr.”