A 21-year-old Guatemalan national pleaded guilty to lying to authorities and claiming an unaccompanied alien child was her sister in an attempt to gain custody of the minor, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio helped pursue charges against Gladys Marina Caal Chen, who pleaded guilty to making false statements on a UAC sponsorship application to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The HHS-funded care provider rejected Caal Chen’s application based in part on concerns that Caal Chen lied about her identity and relationship with the UAC in application materials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
In June, federal authorities announced indictments against Caal Chen’s and a brother-sister duo from Guatemala accused of smuggling more than a dozen unaccompanied children into the United States under the Biden administration.
Caal Chen pleaded guilty to making a false, fictitious or fraudulent statement. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Sentencing is set for Nov. 23.
“Those who intentionally manipulate federal systems and programs to gain illegal custody of children are despicable,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “We will aggressively prosecute anyone who lies to federal authorities, and we will not tolerate actions that enable them to smuggle or traffic others — especially children.”
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The DOJ has identified 15,500 pedophiles, rapists, smugglers,… pic.twitter.com/knAUdjpOZe
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The case out of Ohio highlights how the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies created a humanitarian crisis that left thousands of unaccompanied alien children vulnerable to exploitation and human traffickers.
Federal data reported by various outlets show over 540,000 lone minor encounters by U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Biden administration.
The UAC program had serious vulnerabilities when it came to vetting adult sponsors. Other investigations found the Biden administration failed to monitor the children’s location, safety and status once they were released into the United States.
UACs were frequently placed with unrelated sponsors and left without proper legal oversight or case management.
According to court documents, Caal Chen falsely claimed that she was the UAC’s sister in an effort to gain custody of an unaccompanied minor child.
Authorities arrested Caal Chen May 22 during a court-authorized search of residence belonging to another illegal immigrant from Guatemala who was charged with crimes relating to UACs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Caal Chen was previously sponsored as a UAC by one of that alien’s co-conspirators who fraudulently used an alias.
“Caal Chen is also alleged to have lied to ORR in or around January 2024 in an application to sponsor a UAC using an alias,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “At the time of her arrest, Caal Chen lied to law enforcement by providing another alias, but she later admitted her real name was Caal Chen.”
Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and HHS-OIG Cleveland field offices jointly led the investigation with assistance from HSI’s Attaché team in Guatemala.
“False statements in these applications can and have placed vulnerable children at serious risk,” Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey of HSI Detroit said. “HSI will continue working with our federal, state and local partners to identify fraudulent schemes, protect potential victims and ensure those who undermine the integrity of the process are held accountable.”
The investigation and indictment leading to Caal Chen’s guilty plea was supported and prosecuted by Joint Task Force Alpha, the Justice Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
“This defendant defrauded and undermined a government program designed to protect children,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said. “The investigative efforts that led to this guilty plea demonstrate that the United States and Joint Task Force Alpha will prosecute those who seek to take advantage of children, ignore the laws designed to protect them, and take measures to thwart our government’s efforts to ensure their safety.”
In June, Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin announced that that DOJ officials had indicted three fraudulent “sponsors” in Ohio and located over 146,000 unaccompanied migrant children nationwide.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a federal grand jury returned indictments against Caal Chen and two other illegal immigrants from Guatemala for international smuggling of unaccompanied alien children and defrauding the government.
The indictments charged Maritza Azucena Cahuec Coc, 38, and her brother Carlos Agustin Cahuec Coc, 33, aka Tuco, for their roles in an international alien smuggling conspiracy, spanning from approximately December 2020 to October 2023.
Various reports by congressional investigations and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, including one from March 2025, estimated over 230,000 unaccompanied migrant children were missing or unaccounted for or their court appearances were not effectively tracked or monitored.
On Sept. 1, the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement held another roundtable titled “Catch and Release, Lose and Forget: Addressing the Crisis of Unaccompanied Alien Children—Part III.”
During the roundtable, members and participants discussed how the Biden administration’s open border policies led to UACs being trafficked and exploited by violent cartels and criminal organizations.
They also analyzed the ways Chinese money laundering networks have become a significant enabler of this system. Democrats failed to appear and participate in the roundtable discussion.
