‘Fake Families:’ ICE cracking down on ‘fraudulent family units’ seeking to exploit loopholes
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reallocating resources to the U.S.-Mexico border to investigate the alleged use of fraudulent documents “to create fake families seeking to exploit U.S. immigration laws,” the agency announced Tuesday.
The alleged fraud may include the use of forged birth certificates or other fraudulent documents to establish parentage and “fake families,” ICE said.
“Our highly-skilled teams are working to stop individuals, networks and organizations facilitating child smuggling and document fraud,” said ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence. “ICE, along with our partners at CBP, remain committed to protecting children by ensuring they are not used as pawns by individuals attempting to gain entry to the U.S. through fraud.”
ICE said forged or other fraudulent documents are also being used by adult undocumented immigrants “to falsely claim they are minors under the age of 18.”
By entering the U.S. as a family unit or unaccompanied minor, undocumented immigrants “can exploit loopholes in immigration laws to enter the U.S. and avoid detention,” ICE said.
“ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is redirecting resources to the border in response to cases of fake families using forged documents to illegally enter our country and avoid detention.
During the week of April 16th, Homeland Security Investigations deployed three teams to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. A week later, three additional teams were deployed to Eagle Pass and Harlingen, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and El Centro and San Diego, California.
“The teams were chosen for their human smuggling and trafficking expertise and include criminal analysts, interpreters, document analysts, forensic interview specialists and victim assistance specialists,” ICE said.
Throughout April, HSI special agents conducted about 100 family unit interviews and found evidence of fraud in more than a quarter of cases, ICE said.
On April 22, 2019, HSI special agents interviewed four men, two claiming to be fathers and two claiming to be sons. “The four individuals, two of whom were discovered to be 23-year-old men pretending to be minors, are being prosecuted for visa fraud and making false statements,” ICE said.
On April 18, 2019, an Honduran man allegedly presented a false birth certificate for a 7-year-old child traveling with him. “During an interview, the adult admitted that he was completely unrelated to the child. The man was prosecuted for illegal entry and the child was turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement as an unaccompanied minor,” ICE said.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations has temporarily shifted approximately 330 deportation officers to areas at or near the border or to areas within the U.S. “most deeply impacted by the unprecedented surge being encountered at the Southwest border.”
