Border Agent Says CBP Data Don’t Reflect Extent of Fake Family Problem
Adults bringing unrelated children across the United States border illegally to facilitate a quick release became a huge problem in 2019 during the last border surge.
Border Patrol identified 5,800 fake families during an eight-week period covering the height of the 2019 crisis, according to congressional testimony from then-Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan. Stories were rife of smugglers renting children to adults, and adults buying or borrowing children from parents.
This year, official data suggest that the problem has largely vanished.
Border Patrol agents have identified almost 70 cases of fraudulent family claims during the first eight months of this fiscal year—less than 2 percent of the number of 2019 cases, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told The Epoch Times.