A child smuggling attempt was thwarted by federal authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the bust, which unfolded on April 29 in Yuma, Arizona.
ICE agents, along with Customs and Border Protection, intercepted a woman who was traveling with an unrelated 5-year-old boy.
The suspected smuggler, identified as Gloria Lopez Corona, had been paid by the boy’s mother to bring him into the U.S. while posing as his guardian, ICE says.
During questioning, the child told officers he was “being taken to live with a man he didn’t know.”
The child’s mother was tracked down with help from the Mexican consulate and she presented herself to authorities at the San Luis Port of Entry to pick up her son.
The mother claimed that the boy was going to be delivered to his father, an illegal alien who was living in the U.S. despite three prior deportations.
She also said that she planned to illegally cross the border after her son was smuggled in and rejoin her husband here in the U.S.
“The smuggling of unaccompanied alien children is among the most vile and inhumane crimes imaginable,” stated ICE Homeland Security Investigation Arizona Special Agent in Charge Francisco B. Burrola.
“Even more vile, in this case the child’s own mother handed him over to strangers—mules—who attempted to smuggle him into the U.S. using fake identity documents. The woman posing as his guardian also admitted she was going to leave him with a man she didn’t know.”
“The mother and father in this case are actively violating U.S. border laws and undermining our nation’s security. The father has been deported three times previously, and now both parents have endangered their young child by paying smugglers to facilitate illegal entry,” Burrola continued.
It is unclear if the child’s father has been located or apprehended at this time.