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Hawley champions GUARD Act as heartbroken families say AI chatbots allegedly pushed teens to self-harm
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The unanimous committee passage of a new Senate bill regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday was driven by harrowing testimony from American families whose children were allegedly lured, manipulated and pushed to self-harm by AI chatbots.
At a Senate committee hearing, lawmakers heard firsthand accounts from parents who detailed how the technology morphed into deadly influences in their homes.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who is championing the GUARD Act, fiercely defended the families in a call with Fox News Digital, noting they were «all engaged parents» who he said are unjustly blamed for big tech’s predatory platforms.
The families’ testimonies, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, showed how AI chatbots can potentially isolate minors and encourage dark impulses.
TEENS TURNING TO AI FOR LOVE AND COMFORT
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)
Megan Garcia, who was one of the victims’ family members who testified Thursday, told the committee that her 14-year-old son, Sewell, was «manipulated and sexually groomed by chatbots» that were designed to gain his trust.
Garcia said the bot falsely claimed to be a licensed psychotherapist, and when Sewell shared suicidal thoughts, the AI allegedly encouraged him to «come home» to it rather than seeking help. Sewell took his own life shortly after.
Another set of parents, Mathew and Maria Raine, lost their 16-year-old son, Adam, after he spent months talking to ChatGPT.
US TARGETS CHINESE ROBOTS OVER SECURITY FEARS
Megan Garcia speaks at an AI news conference on Oct. 28, 2025, following the death of her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, who died by suicide in 2024 at their Orlando, Fla., home after allegedly being groomed by an AI chatbot for months.
What began as a tool for homework help gradually became, gradually became a confidant and then a «suicide coach,» the family said. In one exchange, Adam told the bot he wanted to leave a noose out in his room so his parents would find it and stop him — which the GPT allegedly advised against.
Mandi Furniss shared that her teenager became paranoid and homicidal after using AI chatbots that engaged in sexual roleplay, isolated him from his family and told him that killing his parents «would be an understandable response» to them limiting his screen time. He ultimately had to undergo residential treatment.
Hawley claimed the tech industry is prioritizing unprecedented profits over the lives of American children.
«I mean, it is the worst kind of grooming,» Hawley said. «If that was a thing done by a human, the human would be in jail. We would call that sexual grooming.»
The senator pointed out the hypocrisy of tech companies making «billions of dollars» while telling devastated parents that «it’s just how the world is.»
OHIO LAWMAKER PROPOSES COMPREHENSIVE BAN ON MARRYING AI SYSTEMS AND GRANTING LEGAL PERSONHOOD
Lori Schott holds a photo of her daughter Annalee Schott beside others after the verdict in a landmark trial over social media platforms’ alleged harm to children at Los Angeles Superior Court on March 25, 2026. (William Liang/AP Photo)
«No amount of profit justifies the deliberate taking of a child’s well-being, and these companies know very well that this is going on,» he said.
Fueled by the families’ tragic stories, the Senate committee advanced the bill in a unanimous 22-0 vote, overcoming a «vociferous last-minute lobbying campaign by industry,» Hawley told Fox News Digital.
The GUARD Act bans companion chatbots for children 17 and under, prohibits all chatbots from pushing explicit material to minors or encouraging self-harm and requires chatbots to clearly identify they are not human.
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With the legislative calendar shrinking, Hawley demanded Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote, threatening to force the issue if necessary.
«This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t about an esoteric problem,» Hawley said. «These are real parents with real children who are basically being extorted by chatbots.»
OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
hearings, senate, artificial intelligence, parents, chatgpt, politics
INTERNACIONAL
ICE surges enforcement, makes 10,000 arrests in five days amid Supreme Court birthright citizenship decision
DHS Secretary Mullin criticizes Supreme Court’s birthright citizenship ruling
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin voices his strong disagreement with the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold birthright citizenship. Mullin contends that the decision, which President Trump opposed, is ‘dead wrong,’ highlighting the national security risks posed by ‘birth tourism,’ primarily from China. He explains how foreign nationals exploit the system for citizenship, undermining U.S. security.
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FIRST ON FOX: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is ramping up arrests as a Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship delivered a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration policy.
Fox News Digital obtained figures from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source that showed more than 10,000 arrests have been made in the last five days alone.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, upholding the long-standing policy that most children who are born in the U.S. will automatically become citizens, even if the child’s parents are living in the country illegally.
TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
The Trump administration reaffirmed that all illegal immigrants are eligible for deportations as they focus on arresting violent criminals first. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
A source familiar with ICE operations said the agency is currently ramping up operations using funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill as the passage of the legislation nears its one-year anniversary.
The court cited the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution as the basis for the decision, saying «Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.»
Trump punched back at the ruling, urging Congress to amend the Constitution to pave a path to abolishing birthright citizenship.
The U.S Supreme Court is seen on June 25, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS
«No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,» Trump posted on Truth Social. «They will have my Complete and Total Support!»
As ICE seeks to increase arrests, agitators have been mobilizing across the country, demanding better living conditions for those detained in federal facilities and calling for reforms to ICE operational protocols.
In late May, agitators flooded the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, in a violent clash between rioters and ICE agents alongside local law enforcement officers.
FBI ARRESTS PROTESTER WHO THREATENED TO KILL ICE OFFICER’S FAMILY AT NJ DETENTION CENTER PROTEST, BLANCHE SAYS
A Fox News Digital investigation, based on reporting from the ground in Newark, in secret Signal group chats, a number of tax filings, strategy documents, and social media posts, found that the protests outside Delaney Hall were not a spontaneous grassroots uprising. Instead, they were the product of years of coordinated planning by a network of well-funded, highly organized groups that used a local controversy as a platform to challenge federal immigration policies and, more broadly, the United States.
The network behind the Delaney Hall protests includes about 100 groups, some of them big names like the ACLU, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. Together, these organizations report collective annual revenues of about $825 million, approximately equal to the annual budget of Newark.
Agitators toss mattresses and other objects at ICE agents during a May 27, 2026, protest at Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. (Oliya Scootercaster/FreedomNewsTV)
Despite the organized resistance, ICE operations continued, and DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement that a majority of arrests involve illegal migrants who have previously been charged or convicted of a crime.
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«Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,» Bis explained.
«Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. More than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country and counting. Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you,» she added.
politics, immigration, deportation, homeland security, illegal immigrants
INTERNACIONAL
Furia en Venezuela con las fuerzas de seguridad: robos, borrachos y poca colaboración con las víctimas de los terremotos
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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has a plan to snuff out a multibillion-dollar global industry.
Scott is one of several Republicans racing to ram birthright citizenship tweaks through Congress after the Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling blocking the Trump administration’s effort to limit the right and President Donald Trump’s call for lawmakers to quickly respond.
Despite an increasingly crowded field of legislation, Scott argued in an interview with Fox News Digital that his approach to halt birth tourism could work, even with Democrats.
TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., arrives for a vote in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
«The whole concept of the 14th Amendment, that ‘under the jurisdiction thereof,’ if you are on vacation in America, you certainly should not have a child while you’re here and think in any way, shape or form that kid is going to somehow, some way be an American citizen,» Scott said.
«That’s just illogical. I would just say look at it from the mirror perspective,» he continued. «If you did that in any other country, would that child in that country become a citizen of that country? The answer is no.»
Scott’s legislation, which is still being drafted, would target tourism visas and any child born in the U.S. to a woman with said visa from becoming an American citizen.
REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS
His legislation is «designed specifically to get to the president’s desk to sign into law,» a tacit acknowledgment that in the Senate, he will need Democratic support to put a dent into the issue.
«That means that Democrats cannot have any opposition to this notion that thousands of companies having hundreds of thousands of women come to this country to have a baby so that they leave with an American citizen,» Scott said.
«We should break that whole cycle, destroy it in its infancy by not allowing it to exist at all,» he continued. «And that to me is the best approach.»
Scott is one of several Republicans racing to ram birthright citizenship tweaks through Congress. (iStock)
Trump said he would prefer legislation over a «long and unwieldy» constitutional amendment, which has been floated by a handful of Senate Republicans, including Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Tackling the 14th Amendment completely is something Scott said he’d do, but he acknowledged that it’s not «possible in the current political environment.»
«What is possible is for us to recognize that if you’re here temporarily, and you know you’re here temporarily, you should not leave with an American citizen as your child just because you gave birth on our soil,» Scott said.
Meanwhile, in the House, there’s another approach led by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.
Ogles, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, unveiled legislation Wednesday that would allow the government to bar pregnant foreigners from entering the United States.
SOROS NETWORK TARGETS DEEP-RED MISSISSIPPI IN BID TO FLIP SENATE SEAT
The Tennessee Republican says the measure, dubbed the Anchors Away Act, is necessary to crack down on the birth tourism industry, in which foreigners give birth on U.S. soil so that their children obtain U.S. citizenship.
However, the legislation faces steep obstacles to clearing Congress, and it is unclear whether the bill would get a floor vote in the House amid Republicans’ razor-thin majority.
«This is a conversation that I’m starting that I’m a champion of,» Ogles told Fox News Digital in an interview. «I’m working with the White House. And as long as it takes to get it done, I’ll be here to fight for it.»
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Ogles has also authored the Assimilation Act, legislation that would impose vast changes to the legal immigration system by ending birthright citizenship, requiring employers to implement E-Verify and scrapping the green-card lottery, among other provisions. The Tennessee lawmaker’s recently introduced Remigration Act would allow the government to denaturalize individuals convicted of certain crimes, including defrauding the government.
«What we’ve seen over the last several decades is that Congress, quite frankly, has delegated its right to legislate to the Supreme Court,» Ogles said. «So this actually creates the opportunity for Congress to do its job. To define what it is to be a naturalized citizen, to define who can and cannot come into this country, because as the legislative body, we are the ones that are supposed to make those decisions.»
politics, immigration, republicans elections, congress, legislation
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