Due to the fact that so many unaccompanied minors have flooded across the U.S. and Mexico border during the past few years, vetting of potential sponsors and/or family members willing to take child and teenage migrants has been drastically relaxed. Initially the federal government decided that the fingerprinting of those vetted would be abolished, however they soon dropped the requirement of the submission of original documents including birth certificates upon applying, and finally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sanctioned background checks once required were no longer deemed necessary, essentially allowing any predatory figure or group to acquire access to minors of various ages for any number of illicit reasons. Although these minors were exposed to sexual predation and many other forms of inhumane and illegal treatment, most were and continue to be forced into peonage, financial servitude which is equitable to slavery and has been illegal in the U.S. since the abolishment of slavery in 1867. These minors commonly work in unskilled laborer positions in industrialized farming operations found across the U.S.
