Border Patrol agents in South Texas saved the lives of three illegal immigrants in two separate incidents this week. One of the incidents involved a woman and her 3-year-old son.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday morning, Border Patrol agents in Weslaco received a cell phone call from a Honduran woman who had been abandoned by her human smugglers and was lost in a ranching area after being abandoned by human smugglers. She was travelling with her 3-year-old son, information provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to Breitbart Texas revealed.
Border Patrol agents requested assistance from a search helicopter from the CBP Air and Marine Operations unit (AMO) to assist with the search. The helicopter was able to locate the mother and child and guide agents to their location. While the statement provided by CBP does not reveal their medical condition, it states the duo was offered medical attention.
Human smugglers routinely abandon their “cargo” when a person becomes injured or is otherwise unable to keep up with the rest of the group. This leads to numerous deaths of illegal immigrants, especially in Brooks County, which is located about 80 miles north of the Texas/Mexico border. Breitbart Texas has reported extensively on the needless deaths which occur in this county because of our nation’s open border policies.
The “Killing Fields of Brooks County” was the scene of the second rescue of an abandoned illegal immigrant this week when agents at the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint received a cell phone call at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday night from a man who had been abandoned by his smugglers and was having a hard time walking.
The terrain in these ranching areas is primarily soft sand. The sand is so soft that four wheel drive vehicles often get stuck. This makes walking one mile seem like four or five, this writer experienced while accompanying Brooks County sheriff’s deputies on trips to recover bodies of those who died. Combine the soft sand with a cloud-covered night of pitch black darkness and the hostile environment of cactus and brush with razor sharp thorns, and you have a situation where it is very easy to become lost and injured. The bodies of 21 illegal immigrants have been found so far this year in Brooks County alone.
This man was more fortunate because he had a working cell phone and could call for help. Border Patrol agents dispatched a search team and called for an AMO helicopter to assist in the search. The man was found and offered medical attention.
“These heartless smugglers left a woman and child helpless and lost” said Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. “this reinforces the message from our Border Safety Initiative, “smugglers view little regard for the safety of migrants.”
The voters of Brooks County elected sheriff’s office Chief Deputy Benny Martinez earlier this week to succeed the retiring Sheriff Rey Rodriguez. Not facing an opponent in the November general election, the sheriff-elect must now focus on finding ways to stop these deaths and protect the citizens from crimes committed by many of these illegal aliens and the people who smuggle them.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.