Border patrol agents from the Rio Grande Valley handed out Christmas gifts Friday to immigrant children who were being held at a processing center on the border, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

“These children are thousands of miles from home, and most of them are essentially alone for the holidays as they came here without their parents or another family member,” Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. said Tuesday. “Christmas is a tough time to be without your family, so management at the CPC got together and raised money to purchase gifts for the kids and help make Christmas better for them.”