WATCH: Smugglers Endanger Migrant Family by Lowering Them from 30′ California Border Wall

Mexican human smugglers risked the lives of a migrant mother and her two small children by moving them over a 30′ section of a border wall in California. Surveillance camera operators captured the incident early Thursday morning.

El Centro Sector Border Patrol camera operators observed a man being lowered from the border wall about three miles west of the Calexico West Port of Entry at about 3:15 a.m. on April 22, according to information obtained from Border Patrol officials.

A few minutes later, smugglers lowered another man over the wall — this one with a small child clinging on his back, officials stated. The smugglers then lowered a woman holding another small child.

Other smugglers then lowered a ladder for three smugglers to climb back over the wall into Mexico. They again used ropes to lower each smuggler back down the Mexican side of the fence.

“Smugglers often use this tactic to minimize their own risk of injury,” Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino said in a written statement. “They are willing to put others in jeopardy, including children, even when they won’t risk themselves.”

Agents arrived on the scene and took three adults and the two small children into custody. The agents identified the mother, her two-year-old daughter, and her six-year-old son as Venezuelan nationals illegally present in the United States.

Agents also identified the two men, ages 28 and 42, as being from Venezuela. They were not related to the mother and her two children, officials said.

“These heartless, greedy smugglers continue to endanger the lives of undocumented individuals for money,” Chief Bovino said. “We were lucky that the mother and her two children, as well as the other two men, were not dropped from the 30-foot border wall. I implore those who are looking to hire these smugglers to consider the extreme dangers of crossing the border illegally into the United States.”