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.

WATCH: Gaffe-prone Seattle socialist mayor cuts off police chief in yet another awkward interview

Texas Air National Guard pilot ejects safely before F-16 crash in Michigan

Are Conservatives Actually Represented in the Senate? John Cornyn’s X Page Should Have You Questioning Everything

Starbucks resolves Florida DEI lawsuit with blockbuster nationwide agreement

Buckingham Palace Issues ‘Highly Unusual’ Statement in Response to New Allegations from Princess Diana’s Family

Philadelphia home search uncovers possible human ashes, images of 7 missing women: police

Rand Paul clashes with fellow Republican over AI ‘kill switch’ as Senate grapples with ‘Terminator’ fears

Minnesota’s anti-ICE aid fund becomes latest casualty of state’s embarrassing fraud problem

Air Force Secretary Confirms U.S. Now Has Weapons Deployed in Space

22 Blue States Try to Block Trump Rule That Cracks Down on Immigrants Receiving Welfare in Final Hours Before It Takes Effect

Influential conservative group says all hope is not lost for Republicans during midterms — and here’s why

Powerful teachers’ unions share striking link with states struggling to teach kids to read

Trump’s $5K checks could join stack of past unfulfilled promises, former Congress budget chief warns

Idaho prosecutors accuse Bryan Kohberger of ‘fishing’ to find better arguments for bid to withdraw guilty plea

Los Angeles NBC helicopter seen plummeting toward ground in dashcam video

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.