American teens are smuggling migrants illegally into the United States at alarming rates. And law enforcement officials told Newsweek that money is the No. 1 reason that juveniles are entering into transnational crime.

Human smuggling is defined by the federal government as the illegal importation of people into the county by evading federal immigration laws, as well as the unlawful transportation and harboring of noncitizens already illegally in the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) serves as the leading U.S. law enforcement agency in combating the threat, which is described as a gateway for criminal offenses identity theft, document and benefit fraud, gang activity and financial fraud and terrorism.

Some methods…