October 13, 2019–A Senate committee examining migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday focused largely on crimes, such as child exploitation, drug trafficking and human smuggling.
With just under a million cases of immigrants entering the U.S. border in the fiscal year 2019, the U.S. justice system of processing and detaining immigrants is overwhelmed, U.S. officials reported.
Child Pawns
Of primary concern are children who are used as human pawns for individuals seeking to enter the United States illegally. According to Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, human smugglers use children as a “money-making commodity” by selling or renting them to migrants.
“We know children are being rented and recycled and presented as fake families. Last fiscal year, the CBP identified over 6,000 fake family members impacting over 1,834 juveniles,” Morgan said. “It’s our broken immigration legal framework, which provides the incentive that drives the crisis.”
In May, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department rolled out a new initiative to test DNA of migrant families in entering Texas.
Transnational Drug Cartels
Morgan also emphasized that transnational criminal organizations, such as the MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang operate cross-border networks to conduct sell drugs, humans and firearms. His department seized thousands of pounds of methamphetamines, fentanyl and heroin in the last fiscal year.
Cross-border Cooperation
Morgan said countries are collaborating more to control migration, particularly the United States and Mexico. The initiation of the Migrant Protection Protocol means that Mexico holds some migrants within its borders while their immigration proceedings take place in the United States.
The sparsely-attended hearing included little to no discussion about building up support for the economies of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Five months ago, when Mexico promised to enforce migration on its end, President Donald Trump promised to invest in Central America and agreed to withdraw his threat to impose new tariffs.
Sen. Tom Carper lamented about a decline in U.S. diplomacy and said the United States needs to be more engaged in Central America.
Congressional Inaction
Earlier this month, Trump signed a declaration allowing up to 18,000 refugees into the United States during the fiscal year 2020. Of those, refugees from Central America would be limited to 1,500. The declaration makes allowances for refugees from other areas, including Eurasia and the Baltic States, Cuba and Iraq.
Meanwhile Congress is not acting on immigration reforms and does not appear likely to do so.
“I can’t imagine anybody is satisfied with the current situation,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Johnson said billions of dollars flows “into the pockets of some of the most evil people on the planet.”
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