Border Patrol officials policing the US-Mexico border have revealed footage of people smugglers abandoning a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old girl in New Mexico in the middle of the night. Both girls had been tossed over a 14-foot barrier in order to reach the United States.
The video shows the people smugglers climbing with the girls, reaching down, and dropping them on the hard surface, before throwing some of their meagre belongings down to them. The smugglers then make their escape back into Mexico to continue their evil trade.
The video was released by El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez, who said of the incident:
"I'm appalled by the way these smugglers viciously dropped innocent children from a 14-foot border barrier last night. If not for the vigilance of our agents using mobile technology, these two tender-aged siblings would have been exposed to the harsh elements of desert environment for hours. We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and attempting to identify these ruthless human smugglers so as to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
The girls were left on the other side of the fence miles from safety and were saved after they were caught on camera by border patrol officials. The US-Mexico border is watched intently by CCTV, drones and officers on foot.
Smugglers, under cover of night, scaled a 14 ft. border barrier and cruelly dropped 2 young children in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The girls, ages 3 & 5, were left miles from the nearest residence. Thank you STN Agents for rescuing these children! @CBP @CBPWestTexas pic.twitter.com/U91y2g8Lk1
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) March 31, 2021
As the law currently stands, it is illegal for the United States to deport unaccompanied children back to Mexico. This has meant that many children have been left in isolation without friends or family in detention centres where they are processed. Many people smugglers, knowing the children cannot be returned, have been intentionally taking them over the border on their own. Around 5,000 unaccompanied children are currently held in US custody, while another 11,000 are looked after elsewhere.
Images recently revealed from one of the detention centres, shocked the public and the international community and forced Joe Biden to take action to reform the system.
Former US President, Donald Trump, had made it one of his key policies to crack down on illegal immigration by building a huge wall on the US-Mexico border. This plan however never came to fruition.
[h/t: Fox News]
COMMENTS