SAN ANTONIO – A Honduran man tried to smuggle a 4-month-old girl across the border near Pharr, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The incident took place Friday.
The man claimed he was the baby’s biological father but, during questioning, he admitted that wasn’t true. He had bought a fraudulent document identifying himself as the parent, read a news release from Border Patrol officials in Weslaco.
The baby has been separated from the man, and he has been referred for prosecution.
During record checks, agents discovered a 2013 encounter with immigration officials in which the man had smuggled an 8-year-old, claiming he was the father. Because the man and the child received a family unit designation, they were released from federal custody, officials said.
The man admitted after his release that he gave the child to a woman who he believed was the child’s mother.