U.S. trafficking report highlights the vulnerability of children

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is warning that children removed from their families and placed in institutional care are at greater risk of being trafficked.

That’s according to the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report. The report comes as the Trump administration faces an uproar over its policy toward migrants on its southern border.

The report ranks governments in their efforts to combat slavery and the flesh trade. It’s being released Thursday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump.

The report says, “Removal of a child from the family should only be considered as a temporary, last resort.” It explains that children held in “government-run facilities, can be easy targets for traffickers.”

The administration recently scaled back a “zero-tolerance” policy that separated more than 2,300 migrant families.