it's worse than that. his parents literally trafficked him so they could get an anchor into the us. the smugglers and cbp are the same team (cartel). the child ends up with a "sponsor" (planned ahead of time by the smugglers) and then that childs new presence in the us be used as basis to bring the parents in as well, and the parents children.  the children are often sex trafficked, forced to traffic drugs or commit other crimes the cartel would like along the way. if they don't do everything as told they end up dead in the desert.
United States