A pair of young girls who dropped over a tall wall along the U.S.-Mexico Border and were abandoned by smugglers were reunited with their parents last week.
On Monday, Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility said the two children, ages 3 and 5, were reunited with their family as of Saturday. The government body added it is committed “to continu[ing] working – in coordination with the competent institutions – for the prevention of risky migration of Ecuadorian citizens, especially children and adolescents.”
On March 31, Border Patrol El Paso Sector Chief Gloria Chavez shared night-vision footage of two smugglers dumping the pair over the wall and running up a hill on the opposite side of the barrier. The children were left “miles from the nearest residence.”
BORDER PATROL VIDEO SHOWS SMUGGLERS DROP TWO YOUNG GIRLS OVER 14-FOOT BARRIER
Smugglers, under cover of night, scaled a 14 ft. border barrier and cruelly dropped 2 young children in the middle of the New Mexico desert. The girls, ages 3 & 5, were left miles from the nearest residence. Thank you STN Agents for rescuing these children! @CBP @CBPWestTexas pic.twitter.com/U91y2g8Lk1
— Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefEPT) March 31, 2021
Law enforcement recovered the two girls, who were sisters from Ecuador, soon after the incident and rendered aid, agents said. The children were transported to a local hospital “for precautionary reasons and further evaluation,” and the pair was “medically cleared” before being placed in a temporary holding facility.
“I’m appalled by the way these smugglers viciously dropped innocent children from a 14-foot border barrier last night. If not for the vigilance of our Agents using mobile technology, these two tender-aged siblings would have been exposed to the harsh elements of desert environment for hours,” Chavez said in a statement at the time. “We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and attempting to identify these ruthless human smugglers so as to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The incident gained national attention as part of a larger wave of backlash directed at President Joe Biden for his handling of an unprecedented surge of migrants at the southern border. Unaccompanied solo minors continue to enter the United States in record numbers, and those in the administration have scrambled to find well over a dozen new facilities to house the influx.
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Several other high-profile incidents of child neglect have been observed, including a 6-month-old baby who was hurled into the Rio Grande River from a raft by smugglers and a 9-year-old Mexican boy who drowned while attempting to gain entry into the U.S.
Last Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was given a lead role in addressing the substantial uptick in migrants, said she will travel to the Northern Triangle in Central America, including stops in Mexico and Guatemala, to discuss the root causes of the surge in migrants. Biden has signaled he plans to visit the border, but specific travel plans have not been announced.
