Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reallocating Southwest border resources as a means of addressing human smuggling operations and immigration law exploitation.
ICE is using personnel to investigate the use of fraudulent documents to create fake families seeking to exploit immigration laws.
“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,” Matthew Albence, ICE acting director, said. “Our highly-skilled teams are working to stop individuals, networks, and organizations facilitating child smuggling and document fraud. 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.”
Authorities said the potential violations include using forged birth certificates or other fraudulent documents to establish parentage, adding forged or other fraudulent documents are also being used by adult illegal aliens to falsely claim they are minors under the age of 18.
By fraudulently entering as a family unit or unaccompanied minor, illegal aliens can exploit loopholes in immigration laws to enter the country
and avoid detention.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations has temporarily shifted approximately 330 deportation officers to areas at or near the border or to areas within the most deeply impacted by the unprecedented surge being encountered at the Southwest border.