The incident occurred on Sunday near Normandy, Texas, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). While conducting “line watch operations” near the Eagle Pass border station in Texas, a Border Patrol agent was informed by a Maverick County constable that five unaccompanied children were seen abandoned near the border in Normandy.
According to the news release, the agent immediately went to the scene and located the five children, all of whom were female. The children were identified as three Honduran nationals aged 7, 3 and 2, while the other two were identified as Guatemalan nationals aged 5 and 11 months.
“It is heartbreaking to find such small children fending for themselves in the middle of nowhere,” Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero said in the news release.
Skero also noted that the children were left alone in extreme temperatures.
“Unfortunately this happens far too often now. If not for our community and law enforcement partners, these little girls could have faced the more than 100-degree temperatures with no help,” he said.
Despite being left alone in the extreme temperatures, the children did not require immediate medical attention and “were transported to the Uvalde Station for processing pending transfer to Health and Human Services custody,” the release said.
U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas shared a photo of the five children on his Facebook page. Gonzales also posted on the page a video that captured a discussion he had with the farmer who discovered the girls.
“Many of you saw the heartbreaking photo I shared last night of young children found by a farmer on his land in Quemado. While we thank God they were found alive, these tragic scenes are happening more and more,” Gonzales wrote in his post with the video.
The farmer told Gonzales that after discovering the children he called the Border Patrol, but after waiting some time he called one of his workers to bring the children food and water. The farmer also said he didn’t think the children would have survived if he hadn’t found them, as the temperatures reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit later in the day.
The news of the unaccompanied children comes as the U.S. continues to see an increase in migrants crossing the border from Mexico.
Vice President Kamala Harris recently met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the ongoing border crisis.
“The leaders agreed to work together to establish a strategic partnership to address the root causes of migration from countries in the Northern Triangle region,” the White House said in a statement regarding the meeting.
The statement continued, “Finally, the governments discussed their desire to advance a bilateral effort against migrant smuggling and human trafficking that will bring together law enforcement from both nations to dismantle criminal networks. As part of this effort, the United States and Mexico will share information and expertise to jointly secure our borders and bolster the protection of human rights.”
Newsweek reached out to CBP for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
