Federal agents found a 6-year-old boy abandoned at the Arizona border with Mexico by a human smuggler arranged by his parents. Federal officials must decide what to do with a young boy whose parents placed him in a life-threatening situation to have him join them in the United States.
Border Patrol agents found the 6-year-old Costa Rican boy sitting along a dirt road in the middle of the desert during a summer day where temperatures rose in excess of 103 degrees, Breitbart Texas reported Wednesday evening. Border Patrol agents happened upon the child along the dirt road that follows the Mexican border west of the Lukeville Port of Entry, officials told Breitbart Texas. The boy told Border Patrol agents an uncle smuggled him across the border and then abandoned him saying Border Patrol would pick him up, officials stated.
“This incident highlights the dangers faced by migrants at the hands of smugglers,” Border Patrol officials said in a statement provided to Breitbart Texas on Thursday afternoon. “Children, in particular, are extremely vulnerable, not only to exploitation, but also to the elements in the environment.”
Border Patrol officials said the boy will be turned over to immigration officers who will process the child for placement under Unaccompanied Alien Children guidelines. U.S. Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) officials will eventually have to determine what happens with the 6-year-old boy whose life was placed in danger by the apparent decisions of his own parents.
The dangers these parents placed this child in are not unique. Less than one week ago, human smugglers attempting to flee apprehension by Border Patrol agents by driving in excess of 100 miles per hour in a Chevy Suburban loaded with 14 people, including an unaccompanied minor, lost control of the SUV and rolled multiple times. Five people died as a result of the crash and the unaccompanied minor was hospitalized for injuries received, Breitbart Texas reported. Five people were charged in connection with the injuries and deaths.
On June 12, Border Patrol agents rescued five children and two women who were stranded on a small island in the middle of the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass, Texas. One of the women placed her own two children in the life-threatening situation while the other three children were classified as unaccompanied alien children. The three children did not belong to the second woman in the group.
Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona found two unaccompanied minors locked in an overheated box truck on June 16, Breitbart Texas reported. The minors were being smuggled along with 16 other illegal immigrants. The agents found 18 people locked inside with no means of escape in the event of an accident or overheating. Agents said the truck had no source of light, no water, and no ventilation or air-conditioning.
The dangers to these children do not start at the U.S. border. Parents from Central America turn their children over to cartel-connected human smugglers who move them through Mexico in often hazardous conditions. In April, Mexican authorities found 55 children and 48 adult migrants left to die in an abandoned trailer in the coastal state of Veracruz. Officials said the mostly Guatemalan minors and adults had been left without food or water for at least two days.
Elsewhere, Mexican immigration officials found 88 more from Guatemala in an overcrowded bus in the north-central state of Hidalgo. The bus had a seating capacity for 42 people, officials stated. Forty-five of the 88 migrants were reported to be children accompanied by their relatives — not necessarily parents.
In February, the National Immigration Institute reported the rescue of 40 Hondurans locked inside a cargo truck in Veracruz. The immigration agents found the truck traveling on a “little-traveled road.” Officials said the migrants were suffering signs of dehydration and suffocation as the truck was poorly ventilated.
The agents provided food and water to the “girls, children, and adults” who said they left Honduras and expected to be delivered to the U.S. border where they planned to cross.
Also in February, Mexican immigration agents found 103 migrants just south of the Texas-Mexico Border. Agents found the 36 minors and 65 adults abandoned in a trailer in the border town of Ciudad Camargo, Tamaulipas, south of Rio Grande City, Texas. A military patrol heard the migrants banging on the walls of the trailer. The migrants included unaccompanied children and families from Honduras (91), Guatemala (7), and El Salvador (5).
This fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2017, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 32,000 unaccompanied minors and nearly 60,000 family units who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry, according to the June Southwest Border Migration Report from CBP officials.
Editor’s Note: After the publication of this article, Breitbart Texas received an updated statement from Border Patrol officials clarifying that the child told agents he was smuggled across the border and abandoned by an uncle. The article has been updated to reflect the new information from Border Patrol officials.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, GAB, and Facebook.