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.

Trump explains trans sports controversy to Saudi investors who he says ‘don’t do a lot of transitioning’

Dem senator divides party over controversial pardon proposal: ‘I don’t think it makes sense’

‘Ms. Halligan was not a puppet’: DOJ says Trump’s dislike of Comey isn’t grounds to toss case

Legal Expert: Rosie O’Donnell Just Put Herself in Jeopardy of Major Legal Action from Trump

Watch: Scott Jennings Chews up Dems on Genuinely Shocking Call for Military to Disobey Orders – ‘Foment Insurrection in the Ranks of the Military’

Scathing report calls on US to label Islamist group infiltrating all aspects of American life as terrorist org

Republicans feud over ‘Arctic Frost’ accountability measure, but critics offer no clear alternative

Video: Toyota Chairman Goes Hard Core MAGA With Trump-Vance Photos on His Shirt and a Classic Red MAGA Cap

Dem Senator Fires Staffer Accused of Helping a Four-Time Deported Illegal Escape Custody

Chicago repeat offender accused of punching women arrested again after years of violent crimes: report

Mamdani keeps Jessica Tisch as NYPD commissioner

House Republican chairman refers Jack Smith’s former deputy to DOJ for prosecution

Sanctuary states need crackdown as Americans pay price for illegal immigrant truckers: GOP lawmaker

Watch: James Comer Exposes Hakeem Jeffries’ Connection to Epstein on House Floor

Joy Reid Admits the Truth: She’d ‘Freak Out’ if She ‘Saw a Penis’ in the Women’s Locker Room

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.