Border authorities in Arizona are seeing an increase in immigrants from the West African country of Guinea carrying fake passports claiming they are minors.
The new arrivals are altering their ages to pretend they are unaccompanied minors to have a better chance of entering the US, Fox News Digital said, citing an internal memo from the US Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector Intelligence Unit. The USA.
“Guinean government officials may be advising people who obtain new passports that they can change their age to have a better chance of entering the United States as minors,” the alert warned, along with examples of authentic and manipulated Guinean passports.
“Guinean passports issued in Conakry after June 2023 are suspected to be likely fraudulent or altered,” the memo added.
One migrant also claimed that an “illicit group” stole several blank passports from the ministry in Conakry and “has been selling and issuing the passports without proper procedures,” the Border Patrol explained.
The alert was issued as hundreds of Guinean men were crossing into the United States through the Tuscon sector, Fox News said.
An internal memo warned border patrol agents about possible fake passports. Fox New / US Border Patrol A record number of migrants crossed the southern border in December. AFP via Getty Images
Nearly 170 Guinean citizens crossed the area on Saturday alone, the outlet said, citing Border Patrol sources.
Former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told “Fox & Friends” that allegations of counterfeit passports were “very concerning,” particularly in the wake of the record number of migrants who crossed the southern border in December.
“Any time there are such overwhelming numbers… it overwhelms the border patrol, and that’s why the smugglers and the cartels know it,” Wolf explained.
Hundreds of immigrants were waiting to be processed last week. AFP via Getty Images
“They are training people on how to cross that border, how to modify passports if necessary, so that they can be released into the country,” he added.
“The system is broken,” he lamented.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn