A six-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl were dropped over large boulders along the southern border in California and abandoned before U.S. Border Patrol agents rescued the duo Monday afternoon.
Agents patrolling the border near Jacumba noticed a man and a woman walking south of the border with two children around 3:00 p.m., Monday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Tuesday.
Agents then saw the couple “hoist the small children over large boulders in an area where the border wall ends at the side of a mountain abutting the large boulders.” Agents quickly responded and discovered the two children alone and crying. The children had difficulty communicating with agents and were only able to share their names.
Yesterday afternoon, #BorderPatrol agents rescued 2 siblings, ages 5 & 6, who were abandoned by smugglers in a remote area along the U.S./Mexico Border. Their mother’s phone number was written on the children’s forearms.
Read: https://t.co/EnYBnH2DF3 pic.twitter.com/4wI37krF3U— Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke (@USBPChiefSDC) April 6, 2021
“It is unconscionable that anyone would abandon these small children and those responsible for smuggling events like this will be aggressively prosecuted,” Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said. “Thankfully, our agents were able to quickly rescue these siblings.” (RELATED: Smugglers Drop Toddlers Over Border Wall, Leaving Them To Fend For Themselves)
The children were taken to a Border Patrol station where they underwent processing and received care. There, the children gave agents a handwritten note from their mother which had a name and phone number on it. Their mother’s number was also written in marker on their forearms, according to CBP.
Agents were able to contact the mother and obtained more information about the children. The kids were expected to be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services as of Tuesday.
The southern border has seen a flood of unaccompanied minors, with CBP encountering more than 9,000 unaccompanied minors in February alone.
