Anti-trafficking activist exposes how 'slave ledger' is being used by smugglers to control migrants

Jaco Booyens, who is a director and anti-trafficking activist, spoke to Fox News Digital about a document he says he found among a group of migrants, mostly women and children, who his team followed from the Darien Gap, through Mexico and into the U.S. where they were encountered by Border Patrol in Texas.

As some men in the group fled, the logbook ended up being discarded, he says, and picked up by his team.

"It's for all intents and purposes, it's a slave ledger," he says.

He says the book is typical of smugglers and shows the names of children being moved across the border, and how much is still owed.

"This is how they operate. It's around $8,500 is the sum. And then whatever portion they can pay. Now, some of the families here pay $50," he said, adding that they will then owe the rest at a high interest rate to the gangs.

He said the discovery showed the lack of a human element of what the smugglers were dealing with.

"It's never been this brazen to where really when you read through this, and you translate it, it's numbers on a page. There's a complete lack of humanity in this document," he said.

"When you read a document and it's names of children and their ages, and you start seeing monetary value next to them, you know, it's a reality we live through, but the American public don't understand how human lives are commoditized," he said.

Booyens stressed how migrants who are brought in are not then left by the cartels but are tracked, and will be forced to pay back the money they owe, whether that be through prostitution or other forms of labor. If they don't check in, they or their family members in their home country could be at risk of violence.

"The traffickers know where they are. They have a ledger on them, and they check in. They check in like you do with a parole officer because they are fearful for their family's lives back home, and they pay a debt. They have a debt to pay, so the system is very organized from that perspective," he said.

"It's just stark to get a ledger with the names, and say, 'Hey, this guy has X amount of children on his book. And he's going to collect,'" he said.

In terms of what can be done to stop the smuggling, Booyens noted a "vicious" demand cycle for children from Americans. But he said that the laws of the U.S. must also be followed to stop incentivizing migrants.

"We got to just start with just letting the law be the law," he said. "We have immigration law, albeit it needs reform. Yes, but we do have law, and the law has been abandoned."

Polls suggest former President Donald Trump holds a significant lead over Vice President Kamala Harris on the issue, with both candidates dueling over who is better suited to secure the border.

Fox News' Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.