BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Brownsville port of entry this weekend intercepted a woman for alleged violations of immigration law. The woman allegedly presented U. S. birth certificates for two children in an alleged attempt to bring them into the country.
On Tuesday, February 14, at Gateway International Bridge, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen female who resides in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico applied for admission to enter the United States as the driver of white 1998 Lincoln Town Car accompanied by two minor children. A primary CBP officer referred the Town Car and its occupants to secondary for further examination after reviewing the U.S. birth certificates presented as entry documents for the minor children. In secondary, CBP officers used a CBP database and discovered that the presented birth certificates had not been issued to the two minors for whom they were being presented. CBP officers' research revealed that one of the girls was in fact a ten-year-old from Honduras and the other girl was a nine-year-old from El Salvador with no legal immigration documents to enter or reside in the United States.
CBP officers seized the documents; the woman was taken into custody for alleged violations of immigration law. The minor children will be returned to their respective countries.
"Brownsville CBP officers stopped these children from being allegedly smuggled into the country with no legal immigration documents to enter the United States. I congratulate our primary officers for their alertness on the frontline," said Michael Freeman, CBP port director, Brownsville.