The U.S.-Mexico border migration has long been an issue of concern to the United States. Compared to the hard-line actions of Trump in the past, the Biden administration has not only promised to consider the policy based on humanity, but also to establish a system of children’s shelters and restore some children to apply for entry. In this regard, some U.S. officials warned that such a lenient approach is quite dangerous, in addition to pushing children into danger, but also may reproduce the 2019 border crisis.
During the 2019 border crisis, many adults will bring unrelated children across the border illegally in order to enter the United States quickly.
In the same year, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) sent 400 agents to investigate and found 5,500 fake families in just eight weeks, accounting for about 15 percent of all referrals.
Kevin McAleenan, then acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), noted that the cost of renting a child ranged from less than $100 to more than $1,000, and that the child was like an “immigration passport” that allowed him or her to stay in the United States with the child. According to statistics, during May 2019 alone, the Border Patrol caught more than 84,000 illegal immigrants in the name of family.
However, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), nearly 19,000 illegal immigrant family members were arrested by Border Patrol in February of this year, not only twice as many as in January, but even more in March.
Former CBP acting director Mark Morgan believes that children are already being rented to adults, and the situation could get worse. He said that more resources must be devoted to identifying fraudulent immigrant families, and predicted that the number of unaccompanied minors would decrease and the number of illegal immigrant families would increase if the government stopped deporting illegal immigrant families under Title 42 of the U.S. Code’s public health emergency restrictions.
Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the Biden administration has not implemented widespread DNA testing, “We had criminal investigations where smuggling rings were renting children to pose as immigrant families. Once they were released, the children were sent back to Mexico to be re-rented again.”
Several photos from a border holding facility in Donna, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, show hundreds of illegal immigrants and minors in overcrowded, poor living conditions. Photo: Henry Cuellar’s office/courtesy
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