Border Agent Says CBP Data Don’t Reflect Extent of Fake Family Problem

A group of illegal immigrants is processed by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in La Joya, Texas, on April 10, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

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.