More than 600 Children ‘Recycled’ by Migrant Smugglers At Border: ICE

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.

FBI returns ‘Most Wanted’ fraudster to US after India arrest in alleged $600K SNAP food stamp fraud scheme

Trans neo-Nazi accused of plotting Hindu temple massacre, will receive hormone treatment in jail: officials

Washington Post Now Luring Women to OnlyFans, Suggesting Pay up to 1,600x Higher Than What Most Women Make

‘Oh, shut up!’: Democrat snaps at Collins after heckler drives Maine Senate debate off the rails

Kelly Clarkson Gets Worst Backup Possible as Loathed Star Kathy Griffin Comes to Her Defense in Insane Feud with Small Shop Owner

Can cooking for terrorists bar asylum? Supreme Court takes up unusual case with broader immigration stakes

Breaking: 3 Children, 1 Adult Killed in Elementary School Shooting

Marjorie Taylor Greene Lashes Out at Trump, Defends Ilhan Omar, Whom She Tried to Censure

Alleged leftist militants charged with gun crime just before Trump stopped enforcement

Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate John James skips Vance rally, citing debate prep

Hollywood Mega Producer Admits to Joe Rogan That Once Societies Abandon God, They Turn To Tyranny

Active shooter report at Oregon elementary school draws large police response

‘One of a Kind’ Pastor Serving in Trump Administration Dies at Age 47

Ilhan Omar’s husband snaps over rumors she fled US after federal immigration fraud raid

Horse farm owner gets life in prison for boyfriend’s murder after claiming self-defense

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.