Romanians flooding U.S. border at record numbers, committing fraud across America

By Jennie Taer
Daily Caller News Foundation

• Romanian migrants that are in the country illegally, some of which are known to have crossed the southern border, are committing crimes in several areas of the country, according to law enforcement alerts obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
• A surge of Romanian illegal migrants has been recorded at both the southern and northern borders of the U.S., many of which were apprehended and found to have criminal histories, Border Patrol officials told the DCNF.
• “They all claim asylum/credible fear, just like everyone else. Hoping that we’ll process them and release them to the NGOs,” one Border Patrol official told the DCNF.

Romanian migrants in the country illegally, some of whom are known to have crossed the southern border, are suspected of crimes across the country, according to internal law enforcement alerts obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The law enforcement alerts, which span from Florida to Pennsylvania and New York, warn of Romanians who have committed financial crimes and are known to be in the country illegally, and have deportation orders. Border Patrol recorded 5,895 encounters of Romanian migrants in fiscal year 2022 at the southern border, up from 4,029 in fiscal year 2021 and 266 in fiscal year 2020, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

When they have to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Romanian migrants often give addresses of hotels or other temporary housing that make it impossible to track them, one agency official told the DCNF.

“Romanians are involved in a lot of fraud. To avoid detection, they tend to give temporary addresses and/or just quit reporting,” the ICE official, who is based on the west coast, said.

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A local sheriff’s office in Florida sent out an alert in February seeking information on two suspects who crossed the southern border illegally from Romania, one of whom “completed a sleight of hand” by only paying for $3,600 of the $9,600 for the purchase of eight gold coins.

The two were later seen at another coin vendor in Florida.

“Subject crossed illegally through the southwest border and was subsequently apprehended by Border Patrol,” a note on the alert for the two suspects, which were both identified as Romanian, read.

In April, Florida law enforcement stopped a vehicle with two Romanian nationals they discovered were in the U.S. illegally who possessed “fraudulent passports, fraudulent credit cards, $4,000 in U.S. currency, covert cameras concealed to hide (for possible ATM PIN harvesting), (3) skimming devices, a thumb drive, and an ATM pin pad cling device,” an official alert stated.

A device seized from the vehicle possessed bank information of “thousands of victims.”

“Customs and Border Patrol placed an immigration detainer on the subjects and an FCIC/NCIC check confirmed that one of them has an active INTERPOL warrant out of Sweden for theft,” the alert states.

One senior Border Patrol official working along the southern border said many of them have criminal histories that mainly include theft, larceny, fraud, domestic violence and driving under the influence when they’re apprehended.

“They all have criminal records when they show up. Rarely single adults. They usually show up in family units, and it’s a pain in the ass too get approval for family separation, so that we can house, prosecute the offender,” the senior Border Patrol official told the DCNF.

“They all claim asylum/credible fear, just like everyone else. Hoping that we’ll process them and release them to the NGOs,” the official said.

A Border Patrol agent also working along the northern border, which has also experienced an uptick in Romanians illegally crossing, told the DCNF that many of them have “INTERPOL [International Criminal Police Organization] hits,” adding that those subjects are “removed.”

“Last one we caught had an asylum court date, but missed it because he decided to go back to Romania,” the agent said.

An international alert in February notified law enforcement of three Romanians with “open cases with ICE for deportation.” The three individuals were part of an operation to install “skimming devices” in Pennsylvania Walmart self-checkouts.

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Yonkers Police arrested the group in New York, which also had “pawn records” showing they sold “numerous pieces of jewelry, to include a Rolex watch and gold coins,” the alert stated.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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