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.

Colorado lawyers say court e-file system now makes them certify they won’t assist ICE

Patel, McCormick warn foreign terror threats inside US grew during Biden years

Illegal immigrant accused of murdering wife in Texas just weeks after marriage, ICE fights release

Legendary Fleetwood Mac Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham Attacked with ‘Unknown Substance’ in California

‘It’d Be Better Not to Talk About it at All’: Mamdani’s Good Friday Message Draws Backlash from Christians

Fox News True Crime Newsletter: Ted Bundy unmasked, Guthrie sheriff dragged to hot seat, Hawaii doc testifies

Final charge dropped in yearslong Harris-era case against pro-life activist

DOJ poised to appeal after judge affirms block on Powell subpoenas

Vance tapped as ‘fraud czar’ as Trump targets blue states over taxpayer theft

Here’s who Trump could choose as his next attorney general after firing Bondi

White House Calls for Historic Increase in Military Spending in 2027 Budget Proposal

Watch: Trump Shares Video of Iran’s Tallest Bridge Crumbling, Warns Regime of More Strikes to Come

Dem fundraising giant ActBlue rocked by allegations it misled Congress about foreign donations

French court overturns police ban on ‘Gathering of the Muslims’ over Easter weekend

US pilot rescued from downed F-15E fighter jet in Iran, search for second crew member ongoing

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.