Video shows US border drama as they throw baby from 4-meter wall

A blurry video released in recent hours by US authorities captures, in just seconds, the dangers facing migrant children on the southern border of the United States. In the recording, the characters are barely visible in ghostly white, but their plot is dramatic and overt.

A man sitting on a 4-meter-high fence near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, lowers a young girl while holding on with one arm. After the younger one swings, he releases her. The little girl lands on her feet, then falls face down on the ground. The smuggler does the same with a slightly larger miner, who lands first on his feet and then on his buttocks. Later, the trafficker and another man ran into the desert, entering Mexico.

The simple scene captured by a remote camera is an extreme case. But that’s a big part of what’s happening on the US-Mexico border amid a surge in arrivals of migrants, especially children.

There is an implicit desperation, a family willing to put their children in danger in the hope of changing their future. There is also the harshness of traffickers who treat children like rag dolls. And there is this wall that many fought for; a symbol of America’s strength for some, while others see it as anti-American. A fence which, despite its height, is relatively easy to overcome.

For migrant rights advocates, scenes like this show why immigration laws need to be reformed with a focus on family reunification and facilitating legal immigration.

For many detractors of this type of reform, scenes like this are a confirmation that the country’s rule of law is not respected and that immigration policy reform should not be considered while such things happen. And Americans of all political stripes debate the circumstances, if any, that justify parents taking such action.

As these debates unfold, thousands of migrants from Mexico, Central America and countries further south arrive at the United States border every day. Many are fleeing violence and other problems in their home countries. Others are simply looking for better economic opportunities. They arrive by boat or wading in the waters of the Rio Grande (or Rio Grande) towards Texas, or arrive by land in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Many children travel unaccompanied by an adult. Border authorities detained more than 9,000 unaccompanied children in February, the highest monthly number since May 2019, when 11,000 unaccompanied minors were detained at the border. Unlike their parents in many situations, all minors who have traveled unaccompanied by an adult can stay in the United States. This dynamic prompted many parents to send their children to the United States alone, or to arrive with them at the border and let them go for the remainder of the trip. Most are in temporary shelters which are currently operating well beyond their capacity.

Border officials said the girls captured in the video were sisters, aged 3 and 5, from Ecuador. They were found conscious, transferred to hospital and released without any physical injury. On Thursday, they were in a border patrol remand center awaiting placement by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Her mother is in the United States and authorities are in contact with her, Roger Maier, a customs and border protection spokesman, told The Associated Press yesterday. He didn’t elaborate.

Many children who arrive alone have parents in the United States. If they are too young to remember names or phone numbers, as is the case with these girls, they may bring with them contact information written on paper or directly on their bodies. After being treated by the border patrol, they are transferred to HHS. They are ultimately given to a sponsor, who is usually a relative or close family member.

The hope of those who send their children is that they will eventually find family members living in the United States. But the risks they take to get there are enormous. They may have made the trip without their parents’ company. They may have been left alone before crossing the border, whether they crossed the river or piled into a vehicle, or whether they crossed the desert and passed through a wall. Last year, a woman died after falling from a barrier in the Santa Teresa area where the Ecuadorian girls were found. And finally, the risks can also come from unscrupulous traffickers.

“People who are considering using the services of traffickers should be aware that they are not looking after the well-being of children. It is too dangerous,” said Maier, who commented on the girls captured in the video that “if they hadn’t been in that guarded area, these girls should have fended for themselves. ”