The acting attorney general said authorities have identified 15,500 ‘super sponsors’ suspected of trafficking children in the country.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced the indictments of three illegal aliens who allegedly took part in a conspiracy to smuggle more than a dozen children into the United States.
Blanche told reporters at a news conference in Washington on June 11 that the individuals—Maritza Azucena Cahuec Coc, 38; her brother Carlos Agustin Cahuec Coc, 33; and Gladys Marina Caal Chen, 20—were from Guatemala and arrested in northern Ohio.
According to the acting attorney general, the three submitted numerous fraudulent sponsorship applications to sponsor children and obtain custody of them.
These individuals are what Blanche called “super sponsors,” and thousands of these cases are currently under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“This is one example, one indictment, but it is not unique,” Blanche said. “There are over 15,500 super sponsor cases that we have identified.”
“Super sponsors” are individuals who sponsor more than three unrelated children who are unaccompanied minors entering the United States.
According to the acting attorney general, these cases are often tied to children who have entered the United States and are now missing, and some have been exploited or abused.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at the same news conference that when the current administration took over his department, there were 450,000 missing or unaccounted-for children who entered the United States unaccompanied.
“We found 146,000 kids so far, 146,000 kids,” Mullin said, calling the reports of what has happened to some of them “horrific.”
“We still have nearly 300,000 missing.
“We’re investigating reports to where some of these kids claim that they were raped 600 to 700 times.”
He cited reports stating that more than one-third of females, regardless of age, are sexually assaulted when attempting to enter the United States through the southern border.
Blanche cited the work of the DOJ and Joint Task Force Alpha in a nationwide effort to deal with crimes against unaccompanied minors.
“As is obvious from the numbers—this is a vast problem, but it’s something that we’re extraordinarily focused on, and will remain focused on until it’s completely fixed, addressed, and remedied,” Blanche said.
The task force is a partnership between the DOJ, DHS, FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and others, to “dismantle human smuggling and human trafficking rings throughout the Americas,” according to Blanche.
The DOJ has directed every U.S. attorney’s office to pursue all viable charges related to unaccompanied minor sponsor fraud and other related crimes, including labor or sex trafficking and alien smuggling.
