US

‘Heartless, Greedy Smugglers’: Border Agents Furious Over Video Of 2 And 6-Year-Old Child Lowered 30 Feet Over Wall

(Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

Matthew Wearp Contributor
Font Size:

U.S. Border Patrol agents are furious after a surveillance camera caught smugglers lowering a mom and her two children over a 30-foot section of the border wall in California on Thursday. 

At 3:15 a.m. video captured a woman and her two children being lowered over a 30-feet high border wall using rope, according to a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In describing the incident Border Patrol said they noticed a “man being lowered [with] a small child … clinging on to his back.” Then, they observed “a woman, holding on to another child, was lowered by the smugglers” over the wall.

Agents determined that the 32-year-old mother and her two children, a 6-year-old boy, and a 2-year-old girl, are all undocumented individuals from Venezuela. (RELATED: ‘Not A Democratic Or Republican Problem’: Cornyn, Sinema Introduce Bipartisan Immigration Bill To Combat Border Surge)

Suvellience camera operators saw three smugglers provide a ladder to climb the fence on the Mexican side of the border and then used a rope to physically lower each adult over the border wall into the United States, according to the statement.

“Smugglers often use this tactic to minimize their own risk of injury,” said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino. “They are willing to put others in jeopardy, including children, even when they won’t risk themselves.” 

“These heartless, greedy smugglers continue to endanger the lives of undocumented individuals for money,” Bovino said in the statement.

“We were lucky that the mother and her two children, as well as the other two men, were not dropped from the 30-foot border wall. I implore those who are looking to hire these smugglers to consider the extreme dangers of crossing the border illegally into the United States.” (RELATED: House Democrats Block Consideration Of Bipartisan Immigration Bill)