Smugglers Using Children to Gain Entry Into United States

Marlene Castro, Supervisory Border Patrol Agent, speaks to a group of illegal border crossers, including a man with a child, near the Rio Grande at the U.S.–Mexico border in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—Smugglers south of the border have exploited every loophole in American border security for decades.

Right now, a disturbing trend shows that children are being used to cross the border illegally with adults, who will then claim asylum as a family unit and hope to be released into the interior of the United States more quickly.