That was the going rate, according to federal prosecutors, for carrying a child across the bridge from Juárez into El Paso.
uncertain
That → go → Paso
Some were given marijuana gummies before the trip so they’d be too groggy to answer questions at the port.
asserted
they → give → port
One of them ended up in an El Paso hospital with marijuana poisoning.
asserted
One → end → poisoning
This week, the two people prosecutors say ran the operation, Susana Guadian and Daniel Guadian, were extradited from Mexico and arraigned in federal court.
asserted
prosecutors → say → court
I’m glad they’re here.
asserted
they → ’m → ?
I spent years working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and I’ve seen what happens to children who get moved like cattle.
asserted
who → spend → cattle
But two arrests don’t fix what made those children worth $900 apiece, and Congress has had years to deal with that.
asserted
Congress → fix → that
According to court documents, the ring operated from May through October 2024.
uncertain
ring → accord → October
The drivers pretended to be the children’s parents and showed inspectors U.S. documents that belonged to other children.
asserted
that → pretend → children
On one crossing in October, two smugglers had four children with them, ages 2, 5, 9, and 12, and only one belonged to anybody in the group.
asserted
one → have → group
Investigators say Susana Guadian had coached three of them on fake names and given them THC gummies in Juárez.
asserted
Guadian → say → Juárez
Once the children were across, others in the ring picked them up and paid the drivers.
asserted
others → pick → drivers
Two co-defendants have already been dealt with.
asserted
defendants → deal → ?
Manuel Valenzuela got five years.
asserted
Valenzuela → get → years
Susana’s daughter, Dianne, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting smuggling for profit.
asserted
daughter → plead → profit
What nobody has said publicly is how many children this group moved in total, how much money it made, or where they went after El Paso.
asserted
they → say → Paso
I want to know.
asserted
I → want → ?
People will point to the TVPRA here, and they should, but it helps to know what the law actually does.
asserted
law → point → what
The 2008 act sets up two tracks.
asserted
act → set → tracks
A child from Mexico or Canada gets screened at the border, and if there’s no sign of trafficking and no fear of going home, the child can be returned quickly.
asserted
child → screen → trafficking
A child from anywhere else has to be handed to Health and Human Services within 72 hours and is eventually released to a sponsor somewhere in the country while the case sits in immigration court for years.
asserted
case → have → years
The Guadians didn’t bring them in as unaccompanied minors because a Mexican child who shows up alone is likely to be screened and sent home.
asserted
who → bring → minors
So, they faked families and drugged the children to keep them quiet.
asserted
they → fake → them
When smugglers go that far to get around a screening, the screening is working.
asserted
screening → go → screening
Congress should apply the same screen-and-return process to every unaccompanied child, regardless of nationality, with the trafficking and fear screening kept in place.
asserted
screening → apply → place
Bills to do that have been introduced over and over.
asserted
Bills → do → that
They don’t pass.
asserted
They → pass → ?
There’s a second lesson here, and it’s about paper.
asserted
it → ’ → paper
Inspection that runs on documents can be beaten with documents.
asserted
that → run → documents
You can’t borrow somebody else’s DNA.
asserted
You → borrow → DNA
That goes double on the HHS side.
asserted
That → go → side
In August 2024, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reported that ICE had transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied children to HHS between fiscal 2019 and 2023.
asserted
ICE → report → 2019
More than 32,000 missed court.
asserted
32,000 → miss → court
More than 291,000 were never even served a notice to appear.
asserted
291,000 → serve → notice
John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field office director who later went to HHS to help track those children down, described the old sponsor process to the Daily Wire this way: “We could never tell if they were able to take care of these children.”
uncertain
they → go → children
At a Heritage Foundation event, he reported that only about 300 children and the adults claiming them got rapid DNA tests out of 2.7 million border apprehensions, and that reviews had turned up 254,000 falsified identity documents.
asserted
reviews → report → documents
HHS now requires a DNA test when a sponsor claims to be family, along with fingerprints and home visits.
uncertain
sponsor → require → fingerprints
“We will not tolerate children being placed with sponsors who pose risks,” Fabbricatore said in an HHS release.
asserted
Fabbricatore → tolerate → release
“Children are staying in custody longer, but there’s a reason for that,” he told Fox News.
asserted
he → stay → News
Here’s my problem.
asserted
problem → ’ → ?
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
