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.

Backlash erupts over viral video of CAIR leader as Newsom funding draws scrutiny

Kentucky man enters insanity plea after admitting to beating his grandmother to death in recorded attack

California immigration judge sues DOJ, alleging she was fired for being a registered Democrat, a woman over 40

Trump’s Psychedelic Push May Open a Door Christians Should Question

Schumer’s ‘No. 1 target’ says voters will see her Democrat Senate challenger as too extreme

Leftist Influencer’s Mangione Celebration Resurfaces After He Opposes Death Penalty for Child Murderer

Obama Presidential Center looks to ‘put presidency in context’ as tickets sell out

DOJ investigating left-wing Fairfax County prosecutor over alleged unlawful discrimination

DOJ dangles massive signing bonuses for lawyers ready to fight ‘lawless’ cities far beyond DC

Rubio heads to Rome amid Trump’s unpopular feud with Pope Leo

Dem representative admits to working with Mexico to sneak oil into Cuba, despite blockade

Merz ends first year as most unpopular German chancellor in post-war history

US Forces Strike as Iranian-Flagged Vessel Attempts to Violate Blockade

Cole Allen’s alleged Trump assassination attempt may have been driven by Iran war: intel report

DHS blasts Minnesota board for unanimously pardoning illegal immigrant convicted of 3 assaults

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.