Four individuals, including Mexican nationals Susana Guadian and Daniel Guadian, their daughter Dianne Guadian, a U.S. citizen, and legal U.S. resident Manuel Valenzuela, are facing charges in El Paso, Texas, for smuggling children aged 5-13 from Mexico into the United States. The suspects allegedly posed as the children’s parents at Border Patrol checkpoints and used marijuana-laced gummies to sedate the children, according to a criminal complaint. The smuggling occurred between May 1, 2024, and October 18, 2024, with at least one instance where a child was hospitalized after ingesting the sedatives. Authorities are working to extradite the Mexican nationals to face the charges.
According to Special Agent Jason Stevens of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, the smugglers would have drivers pose as the children’s parents, falsifying U.S. documents to claim the children as their own. Stevens emphasized the risks associated with such activities, noting that children are often held in stash houses or subjected to extortion by criminal networks. ‘These children are nothing more than currency to the criminals,’ he stated. ‘We want to ensure that we interdict this and stop this before they get here because there are instances where we find children that are in stash houses, or we get cases where we will be contacted by a local department where a family is being extorted and children are being held.’
Law enforcement is urging families to use legal immigration routes and warns that smugglers cannot be trusted to protect their children. The case highlights the broader issue of border security and the exploitation of children in illegal immigration networks. The criminal complaint includes text messages between the suspects, which reveal plans to smuggle children as young as 4 and 5. One message reads, ‘Young lady, are you working today? I have a boy 7 and 8. They are small,’ with another stating, ‘Also Fanny, I have two little girls ages 4 and 5.’
Proof-of-life pictures of some of the children were found on the suspects’ phones, indicating the ongoing manipulation of families. The case also underscores the concerns raised by conservative lawmakers and law enforcement officials about the policies that have led to the increase in child smuggling. The case is part of a wider investigation into the illegal transportation of minors across the U.S. border, with Fox News reporting on the efforts of the Trump administration to locate missing migrant children.
Stevens emphasized the importance of legal immigration processes, stating, ‘While we understand people wanting to come to the United States for a better way of life, there is a legal way to do it. That is the way obviously that we suggest that they do that and that money be invested in that process, because when they go with a smuggling organization, they can’t control any of the elements or the people that are smuggling them.’ The case has sparked discussions about border security, the welfare of children, and the effectiveness of current immigration policies in preventing such crimes.