Migrants Abandon Toddler in Brush-Covered Field near Texas Border

A group of migrants abandoned a three-year-old boy in a field near the Texas border with Mexico on Tuesday. The boy has no identification and is having difficulty speaking to agents who are attempting to locate his parents.

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Fort Brown Station observed a group of suspected illegal immigrants walking toward a field near Brownsville, Texas. The migrants appeared to have illegally crossed the border from Mexico a few minutes earlier, according to information provided by Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents attempted to make contact with the group who then fled into an overgrown field. Agents began a search in an attempt to apprehend the migrants and called for assistance from a Border Patrol K-9 team. In the field, agents found a three-year-old boy who had been abandoned. The child was alone and crying, officials stated.

The agents conducted a search to try and find the parents. They were not successful. Officials said the three-year-old boy “does not speak well enough to communicate.” The boy’s name and a phone number were written on his shoes.

Agents transported the toddler to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Doctors reported that the boy is in good condition. Border Patrol agents took custody of the boy and transported him to the Fort Brown Sation were additional attempts were made to locate the child’s family. Those efforts also failed.

A supervisory agent assigned to the Fort Brown Station took it upon himself to purchase clothing for the boy. Other agents provided entertainment to occupy the child while they attempted to find family members. Border Patrol agents eventually were forced to turn the child over to the Centralized Processing Center where he remains under the care of contracted child-care workers. He will eventually be turned over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This agency bears the long-term responsibility for care and disposition of unaccompanied children, officials stated.

So far this fiscal year, Border Patrol agents have found or apprehended nearly 36,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children, according to the March Southwest Border Migration Report. More than 15,000 of those were found and processed in the Rio Grande Valley Sector. Nearly 4,000 of those were apprehended in March. These unaccompanied minors mostly come to the United States from Guatemala (16,392). Children from Honduras (9,138), Mexico (5,024), and El Salvador (4,479) make up most of the other children apprehended at the border.