A new video shows a smuggler dropping a small child off and leaving the child all alone at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The video was posted to Twitter on Thursday, March 23, 2023, by U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.
Take a look at the footage for yourself:
A one-year-old Guatemalan child was abandoned along the Colorado River Monday afternoon by a smuggler who took him across the border and then left him to fend for himself along the water’s edge. Thanks to our agent’s quick response, tragedy was averted! pic.twitter.com/mY2K7t59VE
— Chief Raul Ortiz (@USBPChief) March 23, 2023
According to Ortiz, the video footage was captured on Monday, March 20, 2023. The location of the incident, according to Ortiz, is along the Colorado River. But, the specific location is not provided.
The video, which is one minute and 30 seconds long, starts off with a view of the southern border, with Mexico on the left, the United States on the right, and, presumably, the Colorado River towards the bottom of the screen.
Roughly five seconds into the video - which plays at 1.5x speed - a smuggler emerges from the water. The smuggler proceeds to walk the child several feet in from the water's edge, he places the child on the ground, and then he departs - leaving the child all alone.
The child, shortly thereafter, stands up and begins walking around.
Not long after that, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) - recognizing what had just happened - arrives and rescues the child.
Ortiz followed up on the situation by posting a photograph of the child with a CBP agent.
Picture of child safe with an Agent. pic.twitter.com/DZr0VMUNTG
— Chief Raul Ortiz (@USBPChief) March 23, 2023
The child has been identified, according to reports, but the child's identity is not being revealed.
John Mennell, a spokesman for CBP, put out a statement providing more details on the matter. Mennell said, "the child will be placed in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The unfortunate fact is this is not the only incident of its kind that has occurred at the U.S.-Mexico border - far from it. The southern border crisis is as bad as it has ever been as a result of U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration's lax border policies. It has been predicted that the 2023 Fiscal Year may end up being one of the worst years on record.
