Illegal immigrants are using fake passports to pose as unaccompanied minors in an attempt to increase their chances of being allowed into the United States, according to an internal Customs and Border Protection alert obtained by Fox News on Sunday.
Adult Guinea nationals are reportedly presenting fake and stolen passports to CBP agents in Tucson, Arizona. The phony documents claim the individuals are underage.
CBP officers have been notified to watch for Guinean passports issued in the municipality of Conakry after June 2023. According to the notice obtained by Fox News, the documents are “most likely fraudulent or altered.”
The notice warns that the Guinean government “may be advising people obtaining new passports they can change their age for them to have a better chance of entering the United States as minors.”
According to the news outlet, Border Patrol reported that one migrant stated that an “illicit group” had stolen blank passport books “from the ministry in Conakry and has been selling and issuing the passports without the proper procedures.”
Tucson Sector officials reported that approximately 170 Guinean nationals illegally crossed into the U.S. on Saturday. Border Patrol noted an influx of adult males from Guinea attempting to enter the country.
“Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents and Nogales Port-of-Entry Tactical Enforcement Unit (TEU) Officers have encountered a recent influx of altered Guinean passports issued in the municipality of Conakry, Guinea,” the alert obtained by Fox News stated.
“All the altered passports encountered in Tucson Sector have the correct security features throughout the passport since the blanks were authentic, except for one apparent flaw on the biographical data page, following the printing of the subject’s data,” the notice continued. “The altered Guinean passports will likely be missing this security feature or will appear inaccurate.”
Information regarding the fraudulent passports was obtained through interviews with migrants, Border Patrol stated.
NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley reported, “Sources confirm that more than 4600+ migrants from Guinea have crossed into the U.S. in December— The vast majority are coming through Arizona’s Tucson Sector.”
Bradley stated that Guinean national encounters were “relatively low until the summer.” In July, there were roughly 300 encounters; then the number jumped to over 800 in August, 1,700 in September, 3,000 in October, 4,000 in November, and 4,600 in December, she reported.
The Tucson Sector experienced 64,638 total migrant encounters in November, a 176% increase from the same month the previous year, according to CBP reporting. In the first two months of fiscal year 2024, October and November, the sector experienced 119,864 encounters and is already on track to outpace fiscal year 2023’s total encounters — 373,625.
John Modlin, chief patrol agent of the Tucson Sector, reported a “week in review” on X Friday, which included 16,800 apprehensions, 104 federal criminal cases, 22 rescues, and 3 “significant arrests.”
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