Border Crisis: Children Drugged, Abused, Trafficked Amid Record Illegal Crossings

Border Patrol agents are increasingly rescuing young, unaccompanied children who have been smuggled into the U.S., often drugged and abused by cartel operatives.

El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino has described the "horrendous" actions of traffickers, including one who heavily dosed a child with sleep aids to prevent him from talking to agents.

"Sometimes we encounter criminal actions so horrendous they defy human decency. The Premier Sector rescued this child from a trafficker who heavily dosed him w/ sleep aids to prevent him from talking to agents. Scarier still is the trafficker had birth certificates for more kids," said Bovino.

California, currently experiencing record numbers of illegal border crossings, has become a hotspot for this activity. The state now leads the U.S. in apprehensions, despite having the smallest portion of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Retired Border Patrol Chief Aaron Heitke testified about the chaos at the border, including the alarming rate of sexual assault among female migrants.

Heitke also described how cartel operatives would recruit teenage girls in Tijuana, promising them safety in the U.S., only to traffic them into forced prostitution.

The overwhelming influx of migrants has strained Border Patrol resources, hindering their ability to investigate human trafficking cases.

Agents are witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of the border crisis, including the physical and mental toll it takes on them.

A Texas woman and others admitted to prosecutors last Friday to operating a migrant child smuggling operation, which included at times using gummies to make children sleep when passing border checkpoints.

Vanessa Valadez, a 23-year-old Texas woman, pleaded guilty to smuggling migrant children across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a press release by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). From August to September 2023, Valadez and other members of the operation brought young minors — all under the age of five — from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into the U.S. illegally.

When members of the smuggling operation attempted to transport another young girl on Sept. 21, 2023, they were intercepted by law enforcement during a routine border inspection near Laredo at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, according to HSI. The conspirators allegedly used an unlawfully obtained birth certificate to trick authorities into believing the minor was a family member, and they allegedly sedated the minor with melatonin gummies to keep her asleep during the border checkpoint process.

In one successfully executed example, members of the smuggling ring on the night of Sept. 29, 2023, took a young girl from a stash house run by the operation and delivered her across the border to Valadez in downtown Laredo, according to HSI. That young girl was taken by co-conspirators and delivered to unknown individuals.

"The smuggling ring had attempted to similarly transport at least four girls into the United States — three of whom remain unidentified, and their whereabouts are unknown," the HSI press release said. "Members of the smuggling ring obtained birth certificates of U.S. citizen children to pose as a family unit at ports of entry to the United States."

When members of the smuggling operation attempted to transport another young girl on Sept. 21, 2023, they were intercepted by law enforcement during a routine border inspection near Laredo at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, according to HSI. The conspirators allegedly used an unlawfully obtained birth certificate to trick authorities into believing the minor was a family member, and they allegedly sedated the minor with melatonin gummies to keep her asleep during the border checkpoint process.

In one successfully executed example, members of the smuggling ring on the night of Sept. 29, 2023, took a young girl from a stash house run by the operation and delivered her across the border to Valadez in downtown Laredo, according to HSI. That young girl was taken by co-conspirators and delivered to unknown individuals.

"The smuggling ring had attempted to similarly transport at least four girls into the United States — three of whom remain unidentified, and their whereabouts are unknown," the HSI press release said. "Members of the smuggling ring obtained birth certificates of U.S. citizen children to pose as a family unit at ports of entry to the United States."

"The Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress have neither accepted responsibility nor taken accountability for failing to close our southern border," Texas GOP Rep. Lance Gooden wrote in a letter last week to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding answers about the safety of migrant children in the country. "This has encouraged a record number of criminal aliens to use migrant children as a 'free pass' to cross our border."

"The Biden Administration and its responsible departments must also provide more transparency into their policies and ensure proper enforcement of procedures surrounding [unaccompanied alien children]," Gooden continued.

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