More than 600 children were “recycled” through the border over the last year, including some who were carried across eight times, by a different person each time, looking to exploit lax policies to gain a foothold in the U.S., a top ICE official told Congress on Wednesday.
And those are only cases that were detected, officials said.
The recycled children are one of the more disturbing aspects of illegal border flow over the last 12 months, which set records for the number of children and families who snuck into the U.S.
The families were drawn by a lax policy, imposed by a federal court, that gives adults a quick release into communities as long as they brought a son or daughter with them.
The result was massive levels of fraud, with adults renting or outright buying unrelated children in order to present themselves as a family, authorities said. In some cases it was a one-off, but in other instances children were “recycled” across the border multiple times, said Derek N. Benner, acting deputy director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We’ve identified over 600 children that have been recycled,” he said.
Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources
Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals
Dems score win as GOP senator helps advance Iran war powers resolution
John Cornyn Issues Defiant Response After Losing Out on Trump’s Endorsement
Spanberger vetoes marijuana market bill
Woman dies after plunging into uncovered manhole outside luxury stores
Vance invites Rubio comparisons with briefing room jokes but both stand in Trump’s shadow
WATCH: CENTCOM chief unloads after Dem asks ‘how many more Americans’ must die in Iran war
Breaking: Trump Makes Endorsement in Heated Texas Senate Primary
JD Vance says Trump is ‘locked and loaded’ to restart military campaign against Iran if nuclear talks fail
California doctor convicted of $45M Medicare fraud scheme that funded luxury vacations and a $12K crossbow
Police search for pink costumed suspect in Virginia
Media Pushes New Pandemic – CBS News Rolls Out Fear Campaign Over Ebola Outbreak with ‘No Vaccine, No Treatment’
Jeanine Pirro Threatens Parents After Wild Teens Create Disturbing Scene in D.C. Restaurant
Pelosi intervenes in Democratic race to succeed her
That means that once they came across with an unrelated adult, they were then separated by the smuggling operation and taken back south across the border to be brought back again with a new adult, he said.
“Some of them had indicated they’ve made the trip as many as eight times, with separate, unrelated adults each time,” he added.
Mark Morgan, acting commissioner at Customs and Border Protection, recounted one case where they caught a Honduran man who’d “bought a child” for $80, then attempted to cross into the U.S.
“Why did he do it? Because the loopholes in our system told him — and the smugglers made sure he understood — ‘You grab a child, that’s your passport into the United States,’” Mr. Morgan told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Mr. Benner detailed another case where a Guatemalan man showed up at the border with a girl he claimed to be his daughter. Authorities didn’t immediately sniff out the fake relationship and under the lax U.S. policies toward families the man and girl were released.
The girl was “repeatedly” sexually abused and beaten, until she was finally rescued, Mr. Benner said.
ICE began in the spring to use DNA testing to try to weed out fraudulent families at the border.
That involved taking people who presented as families, but where suspicions were raised, and testing DNA to try to confirm the purported relationship. At the height, Mr. Benner said, about a quarter of the cases tested came back as fake families.
Cartels began to adjust their strategies and the rate is now 13% to 15%, he said.
Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources
Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals
Dems score win as GOP senator helps advance Iran war powers resolution
John Cornyn Issues Defiant Response After Losing Out on Trump’s Endorsement
Spanberger vetoes marijuana market bill
Woman dies after plunging into uncovered manhole outside luxury stores
Vance invites Rubio comparisons with briefing room jokes but both stand in Trump’s shadow
WATCH: CENTCOM chief unloads after Dem asks ‘how many more Americans’ must die in Iran war
Breaking: Trump Makes Endorsement in Heated Texas Senate Primary
JD Vance says Trump is ‘locked and loaded’ to restart military campaign against Iran if nuclear talks fail
California doctor convicted of $45M Medicare fraud scheme that funded luxury vacations and a $12K crossbow
Police search for pink costumed suspect in Virginia
Media Pushes New Pandemic – CBS News Rolls Out Fear Campaign Over Ebola Outbreak with ‘No Vaccine, No Treatment’
Jeanine Pirro Threatens Parents After Wild Teens Create Disturbing Scene in D.C. Restaurant
Pelosi intervenes in Democratic race to succeed her
Mr. Morgan and Mr. Benner testified at a hearing called to examine the border numbers from fiscal year 2019, which ended Sept. 30, closing out the worst year in more than a decade.
Still, things ended on a better note than the nadir in May, when more than 5,000 persons were caught jumping the border on some days. The number is now less than 1,400 a day.
