Customs and Border Protection agents recently rescued two groups of children who were drugged by traffickers attempting to smuggle them into the U.S. In San Luis, Arizona, agents arrested Marlen Contreras-Lopez, a U.S. citizen, on August 29 after she presented birth certificates for two groggy children, claiming they were relatives. However, officers discovered the children were unrelated and drugged with sleep aids to avoid detection.
In a separate incident, Border Patrol agents in California rescued another child, similarly drugged, and found traffickers holding birth certificates for children they were not related to. Border Patrol officials described these criminal actions as “horrendous.”
A rapid DNA testing program launched under former President Trump in 2019 helped detect cases where 30% of migrants arriving with children were not related to them. The Biden-Harris administration later ended the program.
