DHS officials tell senators migrants are 'renting babies' to cross the border

By Marianne LeVine
It's not the first time the department has made the explosive claim.

Department of Homeland Security officials told senators at a lunch Wednesday that migrants are “renting babies” to speed their trip across the border, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley.

“I can't believe that this actually happened, that the people down there in Central America or Mexico are renting babies to get across the border and then sending the babies back and renting them again to come back across the border,” he Iowa Republican said Thursday.

Grassley said DHS officials made the claim at the GOP’s weekly Steering Committee lunch. He said he did not request additional evidence but expressed alarm if it is true.

“I hope you guys will help advertise that, assuming that the information I heard yesterday was accurate, because that is a humanitarian crisis that we have to be concerned about,” Grassley said.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This not the first time DHS officials have claimed children are being used to make border crossings, though the agency has presented little evidence of fraudulent cases.

Earlier this year, then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the agency uncovered “‘recycling rings’ where innocent young people are used multiple times to help aliens gain illegal entry.”

DHS has recently begun an initiative to look into “fake families” as a way to discourage child trafficking.

Under the pilot program, federal immigration officials have requested DNA samples to help confirm parent-child relationships of migrants caught at the border.

Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Mark Morgan told reporters Tuesday that 206 fraudulent cases had been identified from mid-April through the end of May. However, he did not say how many of those cases involved children traveling with another relative who was not a biological parent or step-father or step-mother.

Grassley’s comments come amid Republican senators' growing frustration that Mexico has not done more to stem crossings at the border.

“Every carrot I know has been exhausted in terms of getting the Mexican government to be more cooperative on a sustained basis,” Sen. Marco Rubio said. “A lot of what’s driving this migration is the reality that they’re going to be assisted on that path toward the United States.”

Ted Hesson and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.