A 2-year-old girl and her 3-month-old brother were discovered abandoned this week along the U.S.-Mexico border at the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, according to reports citing U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Both children from Honduras are currently in federal custody at the Border Patrol’s processing facility in Uvalde, Texas, where they were said to be in good condition, NPR reported.
There was no immediate indication of how long the siblings were alone in the wilderness before they were rescued.
The baby boy was strapped in an infant carrier seat, according to a photograph of the children released by the agency.
“A note under the infant safety carrier revealed the 2-year-old girl and 3-month-old boy, both nationals of Honduras, were siblings,” the U.S. Border Patrol said in a statement, according to NPR.
Agents noticed something peculiar while patrolling the border river “and turned back to investigate,” according to a tweet by interim Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert N. Garcia, NPR reported.
There, in the tall grass brush, they found the children huddled next to each other, NPR reported. The girl was dressed in pink pants and a bright yellow top. Her hair was braided, and she wore sneakers with the laces tied. She also had a small designer backpack with her. The boy wore what appeared to be a baby-blue onesie and had a small blanket tossed over him but no shoes on his feet.
“It is heartbreaking and frustrating to know that there are children being abandoned without remorse or concern for their lives and wellbeing,” Garcia said on Twitter. He also commended the agents for being alert.
More than 1,000 migrants a day crossed the border at the Rio Grande over the summer while seeking asylum in the U.S., NPR reported, citing estimates by the border patrol.
“It is heartbreaking and frustrating to know that there are children being abandoned without remorse or concern for their lives and wellbeing."
The discovery of the children illustrates the desperation of immigrants to escape strife in their home countries for the prospect of beginning a new life in America.
In many cases, parents who have been refused entry into the United States have sent their children across the border alone, hoping they eventually will be placed with relatives, according to previous reporting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Back in April, two Ecuadoran children ages 3 and 5 were dropped over a 14-foot barrier along the border and left to fend for themselves.
In that case, border agents were able to rescue the siblings after being directed by a camera operator to the remote location in New Mexico, just west of El Paso, Texas.
But at least one attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border ended in tragedy in 2019 when a migrant father and his 23-month-old daughter from El Salvador drowned while trying to cross the border along the Rio Grande near Matamoros, Mexico.
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