Last Thursday, two Border Patrol agents were patrolling the Rio Grande when they noticed “small hand and footprints” in an island on the middle of the powerful river. They followed the tracks and quickly spotted two children, ages seven and thirteen, struggling on a nearby bank. The agents rescued the pair and brought them to safety (watch above).
“It’s awful to see this, but it seems that we’re seeing it more and more,” USBP Del Rio Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero told CNN. “Kids are winding up abandoned on the river, or they cross by themselves. And we find them by themselves in the middle of branches, with nothing more than say a lanyard around their neck with a phone number and a name.”
The children, both Hondurans, are unrelated, but they found each other under similar circumstances. They say they were separated from their mothers in Mexico. A man pledged to help them cross the border into the U.S. but eventually abandoned them.
CNN provides additional context:
The rescue comes as the Biden administration has struggled to keep up with the pace of apprehensions on the border, leaving hundreds of children in Border Patrol custody beyond the legal 72-hour limit.
Apprehensions of unaccompanied children in the Del Rio sector are up 230% this fiscal year, said Skero. Smuggling cases are also up this year, as well as the number of criminals, like sex offenders, arrested on the border.
There are “more people than we’ve ever experienced,” arriving at the border, Skero said, which is prompting more incidents and rescues. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”