Border Crackdown Discourages ‘Fraudulent Families,’ Child Trafficking
Migrant families all but ceased trying to enter the United States illegally in the last four months after the federal government started enforcing immigration laws.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents encountered less than 4,000 illegal immigrants traveling in family units between February and May — an almost inconceivable 99% drop from nearly 258,700 encounters between February and May 2024.
The startling statistic could suggest America is successfully combatting child trafficking in fraudulent families.
Immigration officials are more likely to allow families to await trial in America than single illegal migrants. Cartels and traffickers take advantage of this loophole by “renting” children to single people trying to sneak into the country.
“[Illegal aliens are] coached and mentored and given what to say by cartels and the human smuggling organizations: ‘Grab a kid, and that is your U.S. passport. That will guarantee you entry into the United States,’” former CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told journalists in 2019.
“And guess what — they were right.”
Morgan believed America could disincentivize this kind of trafficking by keeping illegal immigrants in detention to await trial. But, between 2021 and 2024, America’s immigration procedures crumbled under record numbers of illegal migrants. Millions effectively vanished after being released from overwhelmed detention centers.
Human traffickers no doubt benefited from the chaos. As early as 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP confirmed the existence of “child recycling rings.” Once a fraudulent family successfully snuck into the U.S., the trafficked child would be flown back to Central or South America to complete the dangerous journey again with another “client.”
DHS data indicates as many as 3 in 10 children CBP agents encounter in family units, some as young as six months old, are not related to their supposed family members.
In 2020, the federal government expanded DNA testing programs meant to ferret out fraudulent families, signing a five-year contract with a company that provided and analyzed fast, minimally invasive, familial DNA tests.
The Biden administration terminated the program two years early in 2023 without explanation or warning.
The House Subcommittee on National Security subsequently launched an investigation into how border patrol can identify fraudulent families without DNA testing. The inquiry is ongoing.
Given what we know about fraudulent families, the dramatic decrease in illegal family units trying to sneak into the country shows America is effectively combatting a particularly heinous form of child victimization.
By refusing to release detained illegal migrants into America, officials are also preventing traffickers from continuing to exploit vulnerable children.
Additional Articles and Resources
Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Protects Children
Familial DNA Testing on the Southern Border Shouldn’t Have Ended
American immigration System Loses Contact with Tens of Thousands of Migrant Children
Trump Sees Lowest Border Numbers in History: ‘The Invasion is Over’
Violent Gang Takes Advantage of American Immigration Policy
Politics is Putting Children at Risk on the Southern Border
Trump’s Border Czar Explains Child Trafficking Under Biden Administration
It’s Compassionate to Oppose Illegal immigration. Here’s Why.
Talking to Your Kids About Illegal Immigration
My Rescue From Human Trafficking to New Life in Christ
Identifying the Signs of Human Trafficking
