On Wednesday, a legal permanent resident of the U.S. was reportedly arrested by immigration and customs officials. Gloria Lopez, a 24-year-old from Mexico, tried to enter the country with a five-year-old boy at a port of entry in San Luis, Arizona.
The boy was assessed and found to be an unaccompanied minor from Mexico. He appeared sleepy and confused, having apparently been given melatonin. An investigation by Homeland Security uncovered a substance that seemed to have been used to manipulate medication intended for children.
Lopez Corona later confessed that she was not the boy’s mother and that her birth certificate was forged. She claimed to have a two-year-old child back in Mexico. Immigration officers identified Reina Cecilia Hernandez Reyes as the biological mother of the five-year-old, who was allegedly involved in the smuggling plan.
According to reports, Lopez Corona said she felt compelled to smuggle the child due to threats against her family. This left her reluctant to contact Mexican authorities because, as she put it, “I didn’t trust them.” She recounted how an unnamed person directed the child from a car seat and offered her $1,500 for assistance, although she stated she’d turn down the money.
At one point during the encounter, the child mentioned something about receiving a gummy from his mother. Reyes, a Mexican citizen, admitted to handing over children to strangers for smuggling into the U.S., intending for them to be returned to her. The plan reportedly involved bringing the child to Reyes’ husband in Los Angeles, who had been smuggled into the country three years earlier and had already faced deportation three times before successfully entering.
Lopez Corona is now facing serious charges of alien smuggling following her arrest during a Homeland Security operation. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, emphasized the dangers of these smuggling operations, noting that drugged children were being trafficked into the country. She assured that, under the current leadership, efforts would be made to protect children and intercept those who exploit them.
