1 dead and 3 missing after the overthrow of a raft carrying migrants to Rio Grande

The body of one of the three missing children was found after a raft carrying a group of several migrants capsized on the Rio Grande while they were trying to cross the US-Mexican border Late Wednesday, according to the US Customs and Border Protection. Officials say the body was that of a 10-month-old baby. Other missing persons included a 7-year-old boy, another child who was probably the same age and a man.

Migrants often try to cross the river, mainly in poorly constructed rafts without any safety equipment. The water can be deceptively high and move quickly.

According to one official, border police officers met a man at around 9.45 pm Wednesday night near Del Rio, Texas. He told them that a raft carrying nine people was overturned and that his grandson and nephew had been carried away with the other child and man. Officers heard the wife of this man and an older son screaming in the dark and the two men were removed alive from the muddy water, according to a preliminary report of the incident released by the manager.

Another man and his 13-year-old child were rescued nearby, the official said. The children were hospitalized for observation.

Border Services Officers looking for the missing found the baby, said a second official. Officials were not allowed to speak publicly and spoke to the Associated Press under the guise of anonymity.

A record number of families from Central America cross the border, some walking and others by the river. Just last week, border services officers saved 10 people in a raft sinking in the same area, including a 3-year-old who had been separated from his mother on the Mexican side.

In the last fiscal year, US Customs and Border Protection responded to more than 4,300 emergencies. There were 283 deaths, including those who drowned or died in the desert. The peak was recorded in 2005, when 492 people died.

Number of border crossings last month was a 12-year high; more than 103,000 people were met, including more than 53,000 traveling with their families.

Internal security officials said the system was under severe strain family crush who need different care and have different needs from those that agents and officers used to see crossing the border, mostly single men from Mexico.

On Wednesday, the White House asked Congress for $ 4.5 billion in extra funding for the border. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan told a Senate subcommittee Thursday that the ministry needed additional funding to help manage the migrant rush and provide the appropriate care. But Democrats are wary of giving more money to the administration, especially after the government's longest ever closure to President Trump's request wall border financing. Mr. Trump finally declared declaration of national emergency bypass Congress to get funding elsewhere. The new emergency funding will not be used to build the wall, officials said.