Smugglers drug and traffic children into US posing as parents

Smugglers are trafficking children into the United States posing as their parents or family members, warned Border Patrol agents investigating the situation. In recent days, authorities rescued at least two minors who had been kidnapped.

This horrific practice is on the rise. Authorities explained that it is unclear what happens to the children once they enter the United States illegally. However, it is known that many are vulnerable to labor exploitation and child sex trafficking.

There was a recent case of a child rescued at the California border who had been given heavy doses of sleeping pills to prevent him from talking to authorities. In addition, it was learned that the traffickers had birth certificates for more children.

The fact was reported by Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol's El Centro sector in California, who maintained that these criminal acts defy human decency, in statements reported by The New York Post.

Weeks earlier, the arrest of Marlen Contreras-ópez, a 28-year-old U.S. citizen and resident of Arizona, was made public. According to federal prosecutors, the woman had two minors in her vehicle who had been drugged with sleeping pills.

Contreras-López said she was related to the children, whom she tried to wake up during questioning by officers. However, the children had difficulty waking up, and after interviewing them, the officers ascertained that the children had no familial relationship with the woman.

Contreras-López gave the officers birth certificates that were legal but did not belong to the minors. The children, of Mexican origin, told authorities they had been given sleeping pills that were later found in Contreras-Lopez's vehicle.

"The woman had difficulty waking the children. Officers observed that the children remained extremely groggy. While interviewing the children, officers soon discovered there was no family relationship between the woman and the two minors, ages 11 and 8," Field Operations Office Executive Assistant Diane J. Sabatino said in a release on X.

According to the report, reviewed by The New York Post, she explained that the minors were originally from the state of Michoacán, Mexico. They took a bus from their hometown to the Mexican border city of San Luis Río Colorado, where Contreras-López picked them up.

A source indicated that "a few years ago when they were coming in en masse, we had to let family units in. People kept coming in and after awhile we noticed the kids were the same, but the parents were different. They were recycling the kids."

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the number of children crossing illegally into the United States alone and without family members has increased. Last month, it was learned that the government has lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who crossed the border unaccompanied.