Fraudulent Migrant Family Unit Discovered at Texas Border

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents discovered a previously deported man attempting to fraudulently claim family migrant status. The man falsely claimed to be the father of a 15-year-old boy.

Eagle Pass South Station Border Patrol agents apprehended a man on November 3 who illegally crossed the border from Coahuila, Mexico, with a teenage child. The man allegedly claimed to be the father of the boy. Agents detained the man and boy and transported them to the Border Patrol station for processing, according to information provided by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials.

All migrants apprehended at the border undergo a biometric background investigation. During the records check, the agents identified the man as a 35-year-old Guatemalan who had been deported earlier this year under a different name, officials stated.

The agents investigated further and discovered the man was not actually the father of the 15-year-old Guatemalan boy.

“We receive cases all the time in which criminals will manipulate families and provide false promises to get what they want,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a written statement. “Thanks to the attentiveness of our agents, this ongoing investigation crippled this man’s attempt to disguise himself as the child’s father.”

In an effort to detect and deter these attempts at false family claims, ICE deployed dozens of teams of HSI special agents, Breitbart News reported in April. In early results, ICE told Breitbart News on Thursday that about 25 percent of the cases investigated by HSI resulted in the determination of false family claims. The agency is also testing a “rapid DNA” program to quickly prove or disprove claimed parent-child relationships.

In May, Breitbart Texas reported that a previously deported Honduran man attempted to re-enter the U.S. by falsely claiming to be the father of an infant child.

Agents said the migrant claimed the boy as his own and presented what later turned out to be a fraudulent birth certificate. Agents at the McAllen Central Processing Station became suspicious of the parent-child relationship and turned them over to HSI.

During interviews with ICE, the man identified as Amilcar Guiza-Reyes, a 51-year-old from Honduras, reportedly admitted he obtained the fraudulent birth certificate to establish a father-son relationship. He further stated he intended to use the child to “further his unlawful entry into the U.S.,” ICE officials stated.

“Cases like this demonstrate the real danger that exists to children in this disturbing new trend,” HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs said in a written statement. “And while we have seen egregious cases of smugglers renting and recycling children, this case involving a six-month-old infant is a new low – and an unprecedented level of child endangerment.”