Border Traffickers Offering Cash for Kids, Mexican Authorities Warn Mothers: Keep Children 'Supervised'
Almost two months ago, Congress was warned by a top Border Patrol official that children were being used as a means to an end: illegally entering the United States through “fraudulent families.”
Now, officials in Tijuana, Mexico, are saying that migrants trying to enter the U.S. are offering to buy children in order to do just that, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“I can’t go to work because I can’t take my eyes off my boys,” Antonia Portillo Cruz said.
Cruz, 44, is a native of Honduras who has two sons, ages 8 and 10. She said that men come to the shelter where she lives, trying to convince women to sell their children to them.
She added that men were recently offering about $350 to buy a child for the trip across the border.
“They want to rob our kids so they can cross into the United States,” she said.
Tijuana police confirmed what Cruz said, and added that federal authorities are investigating.
In May, Carla Provost, chief of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, told senators that children have become the best ticket to beat the system because although single adults are sent back, families are not, according to The Washington Post.
“They have received the message loud and clear: Bring a child, you will be released. From interviews that we have done with the families we are apprehending, they are hearing that message loud and clear. They are hearing that from the smugglers, they are hearing that from the media down in the Northern Triangle,” Provost said, referring to the Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
In June, that message was amplified by acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who told Congress the scale of the fraud being perpetrated.
“We have identified now more than 4,800 family units that were fraudulent as they presented at the border,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the Washington Examiner.
In Tijuana, that means fear stalks shelters.
Pastor Gustavo Banda, a local Tijuana shelter director, said families at his shelter keep their children inside out of fear and he has upgraded security measures to keep them safe.
“The mothers are very scared for their safety and for the safety of their children,” he said.
“These are cases of desperation,” said Banda. “Of course, the women have not accepted any of these offers, but clearly this is a huge concern because of the danger to the children.”
In south Tijuana, Pastor Albert Rivera said part of the problem is that children can be taken without risk.
“One of the problems is the state government of Baja California has no system to monitor these unaccompanied kids, so they have no idea how many are here and would have no idea if some were missing,” Rivera said.
Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign secretary, admitted last month that the issue existed.
“This is heartbreaking but the situation we are living is causing some to use unaccompanied minors to get to the United States and then they either leave them there or return them. It’s all a very complex thing that we are reviewing,” he said.
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