The crisis at the Southern border has been bad, but it is getting worse by the day. The United States is known for welcoming children under 18 with wide open, loving arms. And Migrants know this. The U.S. Border Patrol recently busted hundreds of adults who were posing as minors in an effort to avoid deportation.
The special treatment has led to even more criminal behavior by those already breaking the law entering the U.S. illegally. In El Paso alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirms that more than 655 adult migrants posing as minors have been busted in fiscal year 2022. This week the agency announced that the El Paso Sector has recently seen an unusual amount of activity involving adults posing as minors to dodge deportation. In one of the incidents agents identified 10 adults posting as UAC while in custody. CBP has a limited time to transfer UAC to HHS custody once the illegal border crossers are vetted and there begins the journey to stay in the U.S. Bigger criminal enterprises are behind the imposter plots, according to federal authorities. “Transnational Criminal Organizations exploit migrants convincing them to pose as minors in order to be processed as such” said El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Gloria I. Chavez. “Identity fraud is a common tactic used by TCOs to take advantage of migrants who do not know the legal consequences of their actions as they attempt to deceive authorities.”
The frontline Homeland Security agency says three adults posing as minors were also discovered recently using counterfeit documentation at the El Paso Sector Central Processing Center in Texas. The illegal immigrants, a 21-year-old female, 22-year-old female and 22-year-old male, are from Guatemala and were part of a group of 13 apprehended by federal agents in the area. “The three were encountered, along with nine unaccompanied children from Guatemala and one adult,” CBP writes in a statement. “These individuals pose as minors in order to avoid expulsion.” In a separate incident this month three males from Guatemala, ages 18, 25 and 26, intentionally posed as minors to remain in the U.S. Federal agents detected discrepancies between their stories and documentation presented in their failed attempt to pass as minors.
In yet another incident made public this month, CBP officers at El Paso’s Ysleta Station, which is responsible for 16.7 miles of international boundary along the Rio Grande River, discovered a group of what appeared to be eight minors later determined to be from Guatemala crossing the border illegally. Two of the illegal immigrants pretending to be underage turned out to be imposters, according to the feds. One was a 22-year-old male and the other a 19-year-old female. As in the other cases, agents, though overwhelmed with an onslaught of illegal immigration, detected discrepancies during interviews. CBP warns that individuals who attempt to pose as unaccompanied children may face charges under American laws that prohibit false statements to federal agents and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
The crisis at the Southern Border continues to degrade. From busses of migrants being shipped to other states to sex traffickers being let across the border, reform is desperately needed. The Biden Administration is at fault for the mess at the border. It is Biden’s responsibility to fix it. But where is Biden? Where is Kamala? Their absence and lack of direction is allowing for hundreds of adults to go unnoticed for long periods of time disguising themselves as minors just to avoid deportation.
