Migrant Child Missing After Mother Drowns in Texas Border River

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents continue to search for a 3-year-old boy after finding the lifeless body of his mother in the Rio Grande earlier this week.

Eagle Pass South Station Border Patrol agents responded to a call Tuesday afternoon about a group of 12 migrants attempting to cross the swiftly moving Rio Grande not far from a port of entry. When the agents arrived, some members of the migrant group told them a woman and a toddler were swept away in the current, according to Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents took the 10 migrants into custody and executed a search for the mother and the missing child. A helicopter aircrew from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) joined.

The following morning, marine unit agents assigned to the Eagle Pass South Station came upon a body in the river. Agents reported the body to be of a female matching the description of the missing 28-year-old Honduran woman, officials stated. The agents turned the woman’s body over to Maverick County law enforcement officials.

“This is [a] heartbreaking tragedy that occurs too often,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz said in a written statement provided to Breitbart Texas. “Border Patrol agents are using all available resources in the search for the missing boy.”

At last report, the 3-year-old boy is still missing and Border Patrol officials are continuing the search.

A similar incident occurred in this same section of the Rio Grande in July when a Haitian mother attempted to cross the border with her tw0-year-old daughter. The swiftly moving currents of the Rio Grande, Breitbart Texas reported.

“On the night of July 1, U.S. Border Patrol agents from Del Rio Station, BORSTAR (Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue), and CBP Air and Marine Operations – with the assistance of law enforcement teams from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico – began searching for a 2-year-old girl,” an official with the Del Rio Sector told Breitbart Texas on July 6 in an email response to an inquiry. “The child, a Brazilian national, was reported missing by her parents, both Haitian nationals,  after they attempted to cross the Rio Grande River at Del Rio, Texas.”

“As of July 4, Del Rio Border Patrol search efforts have been unsuccessful in locating the 2-year old child,” the official said. “The search continues using Del Rio Station marine resources.”

The little girl has not been found so far, Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials told Breitbart Texas on Friday.

So far this year, at least 160 migrants have died while or shortly after illegally crossing the border from Mexico into Texas — nearly 30 in the Del Rio Sector alone. Nationally that number stands at approximately 228, according to the International Organization for Migrant’s Missing Migrants Project. The Del Rio Sector has also carried out 454 rescues of migrants in distress.