Video shows suspected smugglers dropping 2 children over 14-foot border fence in the United States

U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday released a video showing suspected smugglers “brutally” dropping two young children over a 14-foot-high border fence in the New Mexico desert, officials said.

A border patrol agent using camera technology on Tuesday night observed a smuggler drop two girls – sisters aged 3 and 5 from Ecuador – from the top of the fence just west of Mt. Cristo Rey, authorities said. After the two children land on the ground, footage shows the smuggler and another flees and abandons the girls on the north side of the international border.

The border patrol officer alerted the officers, who then found the girls at the remote site and provided them with assistance. The two toddlers were alert when officers contacted them, according to CBP. They were taken to a local hospital for precautionary reasons and for assessment.

The children have been medically checked and remain in the custody of the border patrol, pending their placement by the Department of Health and Social Services, which is responsible for the long-term care of most unaccompanied children.

El Paso Area Border Patrol Chief Patrol Officer Gloria I. Chavez said in a statement she was “appalled” at the way smugglers “viciously dumped innocent children” from the barrier.

“Without the vigilance of our agents using mobile technology, these two tender aged siblings would have been exposed to the harsh elements of the desert environment for hours,” said Chavez. “We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and trying to identify these ruthless smugglers in order to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

The video comes amid a worsening border crisis. Nearly 9,500 unaccompanied children arrived at the US-Mexico border last month, a record for any February in history. US border officials are on track to detain more than 16,000 unaccompanied minors in March – an unprecedented monthly record.

Earlier this week, reporters have visit to a detention facility in Donna, Texas, which was only supposed to house 250 migrants during the pandemic. The tent complex housed more than 4,100 migrants, including 3,200 unaccompanied children, a border patrol official said.

As HHS strives to find enough beds for minors arriving at the southern border, the department is on track to open nine emergency shelters for migrant children, redeveloping convention centers, camps for oil workers and military bases to add more. more than 16,000 beds at the end of April.

Additional reporting by Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Mireya Villareal and Nicole Sganga.