Pregnant Migrant Rescued in Arizona After Being Abandoned by Smuggler

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a pregnant migrant woman and five others who became lost in the southwestern Arizona desert after being left behind by a larger group.

Agents assigned to the Yuma Station in southwest Arizona apprehended a group of seven at about 1:30 in the afternoon of August 15 about 15 miles east of San Luis, according to Border Patrol officials.

Members of the group informed the agents that a smaller collection of six were left behind in the desert. Human smugglers will frequently abandon migrants who become too weak, injured, or slow. Officials said they received a call a short time later from a woman claiming to be lost with a group of five. Four of those migrants were juveniles.

Agents, including Yuma Sector Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) trained agents, immediately began a search and rescue operation. Soon after, they located the group.

During an evaluation, agents learned that one of the migrants, a 24-year-old Guatemalan woman, was four months pregnant. Agents report she became ill from the heat and began to vomit. The agents provided medical aid for the pregnant woman while waiting for an ambulance to transport her to a regional hospital.

Doctors at the hospital treated the woman and released her on August 17, officials stated.

Agents report all 13 migrants were processed under CBP guidelines for immigration violations.

“Border Patrol warns that illegally crossing the border any time of year can be fatal, but summer months, when temperatures can reach over 120 degrees, prove especially dangerous,” Yuma Sector Border Patrol officials warned in a written statement.