Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has removed Maria Lidia Valle-Hernandez, a 28-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who attempted to transfer her newborn baby to another individual because of a debt with human smugglers.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) says Valle-Hernandez registered under a false name at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lake Saint Louis before giving birth to a child in January 2024.
She intended to allow another woman, also an illegal alien, to falsely claim the infant as her own.
After being discharged from the hospital, Valle-Hernandez gave the other woman her hospital identification wristband, who then presented herself as the mother to hospital staff.
Investigators determined Valle-Hernandez was the child’s real birth mother.
Despite being given multiple opportunities to correct her statements, Valle-Hernandez persisted in her false claims until HSI special agents confirmed her identity through fingerprint records.
Valle-Hernandez eventually admitted her actions were motivated by financial hardship and a debt to smugglers, which she hoped to resolve by bringing her other child from Mexico to the United States.
U.S. Border Patrol agents caught Valle-Hernandez illegally entering the United States near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, five different times in August 2022, including twice on the same day.
This article was written by Border Hawk White House correspondent Wid Lyman.
