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.

Inside the daring rescue of airman behind enemy lines: How CIA assisted with ‘deception campaign’

Trump Admin to Investigate School District Accused of Putting Girls in Danger Over ‘Gender Identity’ Policy

Ex-Fox News Regular Suggests Trump’s US Is Beginning to Mirror North Korea

Trump vows US will strike Iran’s power plants, bridges if Strait of Hormuz is not reopened

Art heist targeting million-dollar masterpieces exposes blind spots in museum defenses, expert warns

Federal judge blocks Trump push to collect race-based admissions data

Scott Jennings Mocks Dems Over Radical ‘No Kings’ Rallies

Kangaroo Escapes Petting Zoo in Feat of Derring-Do, Leads Zookeeper on 3-Day Chase as Heat-Seeking Drone Helps Solve the Case

This Democrat vows to save Nebraska’s ‘Blue Dot.’ Critics say he’s the one putting it at risk

Man who put up $100K to find Nancy Guthrie says tipsters should skip the sheriff and call Crime Stoppers

Kamala Harris’ travels and comments clearly point to 2028

Artemis II astronauts face toilet trouble as they head toward the moon

Breaking: Downed US F-15 Crew Member Rescued After Evading Capture in Iranian Mountains

DHS slams Democrat Sen Chris Van Hollen claim, says illegal alien caused crash while fleeing ICE

Illegal migrant charged in deadly 124 mph chase that killed pregnant teen, unborn child

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.