News Opinons Politics Southern Border

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.


Judge Tears Into Sam Bankman-Fried, Hits Him with Massive Prison Sentence
Fani Willis Throws a Tantrum to Jim Jordan as Contempt Deadline Arrives
Comer invites Biden to testify publicly as part of House impeachment inquiry
Body scanners coming to NYC subway stations as city struggles to get a grip on surging crime
US pastors see popular Easter services as opportunity to rebuild in-person worship attendance
Most Americans support House plan to ban TikTok if it isn’t sold, poll finds
Former top ICE official sides with Texas Gov. Abbott over Biden in ongoing border battle
WaPo Tries Pitting Donald Against Melania, Completely Misses One Huge Problem
Illegal Immigrant Who Was Deported Under Trump Arrested in Murder of 25-Year-Old Woman
Investigators: 764 Tons of Hazardous Material Involved in Baltimore Bridge Disaster, Some Has Spilled Into Water
The Torchbearer
GOP senator visits border, hails Abbott’s success slowing migrant surge despite Biden admin opposition
US congressional delegation reaffirms defense support for Taiwan
Experts address biggest question of Baltimore bridge collapse and more top headlines
White House unveils new AI regulations for federal agencies

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.


Judge Tears Into Sam Bankman-Fried, Hits Him with Massive Prison Sentence
Fani Willis Throws a Tantrum to Jim Jordan as Contempt Deadline Arrives
Comer invites Biden to testify publicly as part of House impeachment inquiry
Body scanners coming to NYC subway stations as city struggles to get a grip on surging crime
US pastors see popular Easter services as opportunity to rebuild in-person worship attendance
Most Americans support House plan to ban TikTok if it isn’t sold, poll finds
Former top ICE official sides with Texas Gov. Abbott over Biden in ongoing border battle
WaPo Tries Pitting Donald Against Melania, Completely Misses One Huge Problem
Illegal Immigrant Who Was Deported Under Trump Arrested in Murder of 25-Year-Old Woman
Investigators: 764 Tons of Hazardous Material Involved in Baltimore Bridge Disaster, Some Has Spilled Into Water
The Torchbearer
GOP senator visits border, hails Abbott’s success slowing migrant surge despite Biden admin opposition
US congressional delegation reaffirms defense support for Taiwan
Experts address biggest question of Baltimore bridge collapse and more top headlines
White House unveils new AI regulations for federal agencies

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.

Story cited here.
Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter

→ What are your thoughts? ←
Scroll down to leave a comment: