The separation of immigrant families is the nation’s hot topic. But what if some “families” aren’t actually related? A surprising number of children on the Mexican border don’t belong to the people claiming to be their parents.

According to The Daily Caller, border agents are finding many “family units” who are only posing as families. Though this is nothing new, authorities have never seen numbers rise so quickly as in the past year.

Families or Human Traffickers?

Agents noted that when detained for questioning, these children couldn’t answer basic facts about their “fathers.” The answers they gave contain clues that the children serve a purpose for the parents.

Many of the illegal immigrants who said they were seeking asylum copied each other’s words. They gave strikingly similar responses, reported the Los Angeles Times. This fact linked with the children’s body language clued in authorities.

The replies were most likely scripted by the same people: human trafficking agencies.

The Department of Homeland Security confirms the connection, according to The Daily Caller. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen released numbers Monday morning which tie many supposed parents to illegal aliens. The DHS documented 46 cases of fraud in fiscal year 2017. Fiscal year 2018, which began in October 2017, has already seen 119 cases.

The Washington Examiner reported 301 cases since October in which migrant families did not have valid parent-child claims.

Policies to Protect

Nielsen emphasized that child trafficking has been an issue on the border for years. It predates the current border crisis. She noted the “long existing policy” that previous administrations had also followed. This policy described what border agents would do to protect children.

According to Nielsen, agents at the border will separate supposed families if there is no way to prove the relationship. Family bonds can be validated by legal documents.

She further claimed the DHS will separate families “if the adult is suspected of human trafficking.” Minors have been used by adults at the border in the past, she said. But in the last five months, agents have seen a shocking 314 percent increase in supposed families.

Family Used for Fraud

“Fraud would generally be those posing that aren’t family members,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s lead field commander Brian Hastings. “There may be some other circumstances in there, but for the most part that is fraud.”

Families without proof of relation have filed law suits, reported the Lost Angeles Times. But when in doubt, the government sides with protecting the children. Lawyers argued that the safety and welfare of children outweighs any potential “hardship and separation.”

President Trump also backed the tie to trafficking with a Tweet. “Children are being used … as a means to enter our country,” he wrote.

Children, in many cases such as these, are not being separated from families. Instead they have become tools of adults to gain asylum.