Border Patrol Deploys New Water Rescue Devices on Rio Grande

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents deployed new watercraft on the Rio Grande to help with the rescue of the increasing number of migrants crossing from Mexico.

Del Rio Sector agents are now patrolling with Shallow Water Rescue Craft to cut into the increasing number of migrant drownings this year, according to a tweet from Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero.

“This vessel can be quickly deployed in any water depth, improving our agents’ abilities to conduct rescues or aid agents working from land,” Skero tweeted. “Greater versatility saves both lives and time.”

The watercraft is a jet ski-type vessel that tows a rescue flotation device.

CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller told reporters during a press conference this week that Transnational Criminal Organizations conducting human smuggling operations show great disregard for human life.

“CBP routinely rescues migrants who have been abandoned by these smugglers in harsh terrain, leaving them for dead with no food or water,” Miller said. “In Fiscal Year 2021, CBP has already rescued 4,766 migrants along the southwest border. In Fiscal Year 2020, we rescued 5,232 migrants.”

These rescues frequently include water rescues along the Rio Grande and in other border waterways. Just last week, Del Rio Sector marine unit agents rescued two small children, Breitbart Texas reported.

Earlier this month, these agents rescued a two-year-old child and the child’s parents after agents found them struggling in the Rio Grande. Following this rescue, agents found 20 more migrants trapped on an island in the border river.

About a week earlier, a nine-year-old girl drowned during a border crossing attempt. Agents were unable to revive the girl but managed to revive the child’s mother and a sibling.