Large Group of Migrant Children Abandoned near Border in Arizona Desert

Human smugglers abandoned a large group of migrants in the Arizona desert near San Miguel. The group consisted mostly of unaccompanied minors, Border Patrol officials in the Tucson Sector stated.

Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Sabri Dikman tweeted a photo of a large group of migrants apprehended by Three Points Station agents. He reported that three-quarters of the migrants apprehended in the group that were abandoned by human smugglers in the desert were unaccompanied alien children.

“Large groups of mostly children continue to be exploited by smugglers who leave them at the border for agents to encounter,” Dikman stated.

Tucson Sector agents frequently encounter large groups of unaccompanied migrant children who are led across the border and then left to fend for themselves, Breitbart Texas reported.

In July, agents patrolling near Sasabe, Arizona, encountered a group of more than 100 migrants. Officials reported that more than 90 of those were unaccompanied children.

Of the 140 migrants apprehended near San Miguel, the same area where this week’s incident took place, 80 were unaccompanied minors.

Similarly, agents working near San Miguel in September agents found a group of 93 migrants — 70 were unaccompanied children.

For the first 11 months of Fiscal Year 21, the latest officially reported statistics available at this time, Tucson Sector agents apprehended 16,860 unaccompanied minors. This represents an increase of nearly 214 percent, according to CBP’s Southwest Border Land Encounters report.

Along the entire southwest border with Mexico, agents apprehended 130,710 unaccompanied children, the report states. This is an increase of nearly 388 percent over the same period in FY2020.

During the month of August, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials released 18,000 unaccompanied alien children nationwide to sponsors within the United States, Breitbart’s Randy Clark reported.