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.

House Democrats fracture badly over Massie amendment to cut $3.3B in US aid to Israel

Harris calls for ICE probe after Maine shooting amid renewed ‘border czar’ criticism

Fetterman downplays GOP fundraising partnership and dodges reelection plans

Not a Single Democrat Showed Up to Wednesday’s Senate Hearing on Taxpayers Being Defrauded

Todd Blanche confirmation hearing turns to Smith bombshells: ‘Did Jack Smith read my emails?’

Even Under Trump, FBI Fights FOIAs That Would Show How Much Agency Paid Big Tech to Censor Conservatives

Powerful LGBTQ+ group’s endorsements could tank vulnerable Dems over radical youth trans agenda

Canadian woman accused of slapping Trump-supporting teen turned over to ICE

Lib Outlets Fall for Troll Jacob Wohl Again, Tout Nonexistent ‘MAGA Mess’ Because Rapper Wanting a Pardon Allegedly Got Scammed

Police say Canadian woman slapped teen over Trump and ICE clothing before ICE detained her

Alabama sheriff details gruesome murders of veteran and wife inside their own home

Biden book launch backfires as critics mock ‘autopen’ president into oblivion

Tim Walz becomes GOP punchline in sweeping new war on welfare fraud

Report: Gay Couple Sues Surrogate Mom for Not Aborting Baby Over Cleft Lip

Kamala Harris Lashes Out After Another Illegal is Killed While Allegedly Trying to Run Over ICE Agents

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.