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EXCLUSIVE — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that thousands of illegal aliens — many of them sex criminals, murderers and known members of brutal gangs — have abused a program meant to protect at-risk minors in order to gain entry into the United States.
A report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) first obtained by Fox News Digital reveals the extent to which the Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) program is riddled with fraud, and oftentimes exploited by the worst-of-the-worst criminals to gain legal status into the country.
The program recipients are offered legal permanent resident status and eventually naturalization. It was created to offer a safe haven to children of illegal immigrants who have been victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
U.S. Border Patrol vehicles transport groups of vulnerable immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, who crossed from Mexico in El Paso, Texas, in May 2023. Castillo reportedly crossed into the U.S. in this area in September 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
USCIS’ Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate uncovered more than a decade’s worth of abuse of the program from fiscal years 2013 through 2025.
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Among illegal alien entrants who took advantage of the program, at least 120 had arrest records for murder. Another 200 approved SIJ petitioners were convicted of sex offenses, and more than 500 were known or suspected members of the brutal Salvadoran street gang MS-13, which has pervaded communities across the U.S.
High-profile cases of SIJ abuse by criminals include a New York MS-13 leader who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in connection to eight murders in which he was involved.
Another illegal alien entrant had a long history of gang activity in Massachusetts and allegedly participated in a drive-by shooting that killed two…
