Border Patrol Agents Find Migrants Abandoned in Desert

Border Patrol agents rescued a group of illegal immigrants who became lost in the desert after crossing the border from Mexico. It appears they were abandoned by their human smuggler.

Agents assigned to the Tucson Sector’s Mobile Response Team (MRT) conducted a search for a group of illegal immigrants lost in the desert. The search began following a 911 call reporting one of them in distress in the Ajo wilderness area, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.

“The Ajo area of responsibility is larger than several northeastern states,” Border Patrol spokesman Danny Hernandez told Breitbart Texas Thursday morning. “The vast area is dangerous for the people being smuggled and for our agents.”

The MRT team found the lost illegal immigrants north of the Growler Mountains and provided medical assessment from the EMT- trained BORSTAR members of the team. One of the migrants needed treatment for severe dehydration. Agents provided fluids intravenously, officials stated. The 29-year-old patient recovered quickly.

Agents transported the two Mexican nationals and one Honduran national to the Ajo Station for processing on immigration violations.

“These men could have met a much worse fate,” Hernandez told Breitbart Texas. “There is no room for error in the Ajo area.”

Agent Hernandez said it is safe to assume these migrants paid a human smuggler to guide them. For some reason, he explained, the smuggler abandoned them in the desert where they could have died from exposure to the elements or from any of the other dangers in the region.

“It is virtually impossible to navigate through this region without the assistance of a guide,” Hernandez explained. “Even with all of the technology and gear carried by our agents, they can still get in trouble.”

“Although everything turned out fine in this case,” he continued, “that is not always the outcome. We continue to urge people not to put their lives at risk by trying to illegally cross the border under these conditions.”

As summer approaches, temperatures will quickly climb to more than 100 degrees and water is very scarce, the agent explained.

Every year, hundreds of illegal immigrants die during border crossing attempts and in human smuggling operations. During the first two months of this year, 14 migrants lost their lives in one South Texas county alone. During the same period, 12 more migrants died in the desert region of southern Arizona.