Migrants apprehended at border are 'recycling' children to appear as a family, officials say
A migrant child in Border Patrol custody in its El Paso Sector was used by a migrant adult in an attempt to be considered a family by immigration authorities, officials said.
On Wednesday, an agent working with the Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations discovered the two were not related after they gave inconsistent answers during interviews.
With help from other federal agents, officials discovered that the child had been used twice before for the same purpose.
'Recycling' of children in family fraud
Immigration authorities call the practice "recycling," explaining that migrant children are grouped with unrelated adult migrants to appear as families when apprehended.
Border Patrol officials say transnational criminal organizations orchestrate the practice, so they can profit from smuggling migrants into the United States, which helps migrants skirt the immigration process through fraud.
“These groups have no concern for the welfare or safety of the children and family groups being smuggled to the Southwest Border,” a Border Patrol news release said. “The U.S. Border Patrol has continuously warned about the existence of this type of illicit activity and exploitation of minors.”
More: Border Patrol apprehends hundreds of undocumented immigrants in Southern New Mexico
How often the practice occurs is questioned by immigrant rights groups and anthropologists.
Josiah Heyman, a professor of anthropology and border trade issues at the University of Texas at El Paso, said he doesn't question Wednesday's account but said a single scenario cannot be stretched to prove that it is an overwhelming issue.
Heyman said strange things do happen on the border as people try to maneuver around immigration authorities or the process. But whether children are "recycled" often by migrants and smuggling organizations is not immediately obvious, he added.
He said hundreds of thousands of migrants have been apprehended by immigration authorities along the Southwestern border since October and there are not many examples of children being "recycled."
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"They want you to draw a conclusion from one case," he said. "But I don't know that you can draw a conclusion from one."
More: More than 670 undocumented immigrants cross border in El Paso Sector in less than 24 hours
The U.S. Border Patrol continues to apprehend large numbers of migrants in the region. More than 670 migrants were apprehended by the agency in less than 24 hours starting Wednesday.
Agents took into custody 243 Central American migrants in the early part of the day at Camp Bounds Forward Operating Base near the Antelope Wells Port of Entry in New Mexico.
About 40 minutes later, agents in El Paso encountered a large group of about 219 people attempting to cross the border at a segment of the border fence near Downtown El Paso.
On Thursday, agents apprehended about 209 migrants near Antelope Wells, officials said.
ICE resources shifted in response to apprehensions
The U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement agency’s Homeland Security Investigations has begun shifting resources to the border in response to the number of migrant apprehensions.
The agency moved about 330 deportation officers to the border in an effort investigate human smuggling operations and the use of fraudulent documents.
More: Border Patrol tent shelter for immigrants has baby-changing tables, laundry machines, AC
“ICE Homeland Security Investigations is redirecting resources to the border in response to cases of fake families using forged documents to illegally enter our country and avoid detention,” ICE acting Director Matthew Albence said in a statement.
ICE officials say a Honduran man apprehended in the El Paso Sector on April 18 presented a false birth certificate for a 7-year-old child traveling with him. During an interview, the man admitted he was not related to the child. The man is being prosecuted for illegal entry, and the child was turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement as an unaccompanied minor, according to ICE.
Aaron J. Montes may be reached at 546-6137; amontes@elpasotimes.com; @aaronmontes91 on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Migrants apprehended at border are 'recycling' children to appear as a family, officials say
