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 to Yank SNAP Food Aid from Dem States Who Refuse to Share Data to Catch Fraudsters

Rep Nancy Mace slaps down early retirement rumor: ‘BIG FAT NO from me’

As Trump’s standoff with Maduro deepens, experts warn the next move may force a showdown

Federal Agents Flood New Orleans to Take Down Illegal Immigrant Robbers and Rapists

Dystopia: UK Woman Recalls Being Arrested by Multiple Officers for Hate Crime While She Was Naked, After Sending Harmless Text Message

Decomposed body found in Connecticut after standoff with man who opened fire at police

Adams issues orders blocking NYC from boycotting Israel as clash with Mamdani grows

US Institute of Peace officially renamed for Trump as White House moves to dismantle agency: ‘Congratulations’

Feds arrest felon illegal immigrant after seizing tens of millions in meth stashed in blackberries

Elderly Texas woman learns fate for distributing 150,000 doses of fentanyl through the mail

Model, DJ linked to violent Tren de Aragua gang leader sanctioned by Trump administration

Social media reactions reveal why both parties celebrated after GOP candidate won special election

Prince William Plans to ‘Slash and Burn’ Royal Establishment, Harry and Meghan: Report

Ghislaine Maxwell pushes back on full transparency for Epstein files

Trump warns US may launch land operations inside Venezuela ‘very soon,’ says regime sent ‘killers’ to America

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.