Desperate to Cross Into the U.S., Some Brazilians Create Phony Families

Very unusual article from The Wall Street Journal. Usually they wouldn't be exposing this sort of human trafficking fraud, they would be promoting it.


Desperate to Cross Into the U.S., Some Brazilians Create Phony Families

SOBRÁLIA, Brazil—Bruno Silva made his way across the muddy Rio Grande along the Mexican border with El Paso, 11-month-old Maria perched on his shoulders. An exhausted Shyrley Oliveira staggered behind.

They looked like just another family of migrants crossing to the U.S., Ms. Oliveira said, recalling the journey from Brazil she made at age 18 in 2019.

Although Ms. Oliveira is Maria’s mother, Mr. Silva wasn’t her father. In fact, he had only gotten to know Ms. Oliveira a few weeks earlier as part of what authorities call a child-renting scam that has been used by some Brazilians fleeing poverty to try to get into the U.S.

Ms. Oliveira had long wanted to migrate to the U.S., but a trip brokered by smugglers would have cost her $8,000, she said. Under the arrangement, Mr. Silva agreed to pay $3,000 toward Ms. Oliveira’s fee in exchange for letting him pose as Maria’s father at the border, according to Ms. Oliveira and Brazilian police.

 

It sure sounds like those "poor" people have lots of money. You would be hard-pressed to kind poor American citizens who have $8,000 in cash in their pockets to pay for anything.

 

Well virtually everyone who crosses the southern border illegally has paid smugglers several thousand dollars per head for the trip. If it means enough, I guess you'll save up for it.