Migrant Children Found Abandoned in California Border Wilderness

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents found two children lost near the border in the Jacumba Wilderness in California. The children were lost after being abandoned by human smugglers.

Border Patrol at the El Centro Station received a call from the San Diego Sector Foreign Operations Branch regarding two children reported to be abandoned in the Jacumba Wilderness region early Monday morning, according to information obtained from El Centro Sector Border Patrol officials. Station dispatchers sent agents working in the field to the area at about 1:20 a.m.

One of the minors who called for help identified himself as a 17-year-old Salvadoran national. He claimed to be traveling with his seven-year-old niece. He told officials they were lost and tired.

Agents searched the area of the last known GPS coordinates and found the two unaccompanied alien children at about 2 a.m. on Monday. The agents carried out welfare checks on the minors and determined they did not need medical attention.

The agents took the two children into custody and transported them to the El Centro Processing Center for identification, further medical screening, and processing to U.S. Health and Human Services officials.

El Centro Sector Border Patrol officials said their agents rescued more than 140 migrants in Fiscal Year 21, which began on October 1, 2020, after human smugglers abandoned them in the mountain and wilderness areas of this dangerous border region. Many of these lost migrants required medical attention after being in distress from the heat and lack of water.

That same day, San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents found a five-year-old girl abandoned along the California-Mexico border near the Tijuana River canal, Breitbart Texas reported.

A team of agents responded to prevent any further danger to the child.

The agents questioned the five-year-old girl and identified her as a Guatemalan citizen, officials reported. They removed the girl from the dangerous area and took her to the Border Patrol station for processing.