Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Agent, said that a child was rescued from a trafficker who had given the boy sleeping pills to keep him from interacting with Border Patrol agents. He made this statement in a post on X on September 20.
"Sometimes we encounter criminal actions so horrendous they defy human decency," Chief Bovino said. "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."
Children are being drugged by traffickers pretending to be their parents or guardians and then smuggled across the border, the New York Post reported.
In one case, the trafficker possessed several birth certificates belonging to unrelated children.
On August 29, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the San Luis port of entry found that a 28 year-old woman, who was a U.S. citizen, was attempting to smuggle two children into the country whom she claimed as her family members, according to a post on X by Commissioner Diane J. Sabatino.
Officers were “unable to awaken the children.”
The woman had authentic birth certificates, but it was discovered they “did not belong to the children.” Later interviews with the children found that “there was no family relationship between the woman and the two minors.” The children also told officers “they were provided sleep aids in order to avoid detection.”
Children are also being "recycled," a Border Patrol source told the New York Post. Previously, Border Patrol “had to let family units in,” but agents began to realize “the kids were the same, but the parents were different.”
At least 291,000 children have been claimed by untracked sponsors. At least 32,000 more children were allowed entry and given future court dates which they missed. Once the children are in the U.S., these children are in danger of exposure to child labor and child sex trafficking.
Agent Gregory Bovino has been an agent of the U.S. Border Patrol for 25 years, according to LinkedIn. He has been the Chief Patrol Agent for the El Centro Sector since 2020.
