A 10 month-old baby was found dead and three others are still missing after a raft overturned on the Rio Grande river as a group of people tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border on May 1, according to border patrol officials.
He said his wife, two sons—a 10-month-old and a 6-year-old—and 7-year-old nephew were among those who had been swept away.
“What we’re dealing with now is [a] senseless tragedy,” said Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Raul L. Ortiz. “The men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol have been doing everything in their power to prevent incidents like this. And yet, callous smugglers continue to imperil the lives of migrants for financial gain.”
After an intensive search, agents heard cries coming from the riverbank where a woman and a child were trying to stay afloat.
“Disregarding his own personal safety, an agent jumped into the river and successfully rescued both individuals later identified as the wife and child of the man who made the initial report,” the statement said.
The child was treated by border patrol emergency medical personnel on site and rushed to a local hospital.
A short time later, border patrol agents found a second man and his child on the U.S. side of the river bank. The pair did not require medical treatment.
Record Numbers of Migrants
Record numbers of Central American migrants have recently crossed the border into the United States illegally. On April 30, border patrol officials said in a statement that they had apprehended a historic number of illegal aliens in New Mexico.The group of 424 illegal aliens, detained after midnight in Sunland Park, consisted mostly of Central American families and unaccompanied minors. They encountered the second group of 230 illegal aliens around 2 a.m. at the Antelope Wells Port of Entry.
“This is an ongoing situation that U.S Border Patrol agents are facing in southern New Mexico: hundreds of parents and children being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous journey in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers,” CBP said in a statement.
“Criminal organizations continue to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life. In most cases these smugglers never cross the border themselves in order to avoid apprehension.”
Along with migrants from Central America, Mexican officials said last week that about 300,000 migrants from around the globe had entered Mexico with the intention of illegally crossing into the United States in the first three months of 2019.
Sánchez Cordero described this migration flow as “unprecedented and unusual” and added that “six caravanas madrecitas,” or little mother caravans that have around 2,000 people each, entered Mexico in recent months.
“Out with #BorderPatrol in Mission, Texas, and just caught 7 Chinese, 1 Mexican, and 1 El Salvadoran minor. All trying to evade capture. Chinese man said he paid $15k for the whole package (flights to Mexico, smuggled across border),” Epoch Times reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson wrote on Twitter.