

"The only people we are not going to let sit there on the other side of the Rio Grande by themselves with no help are children," he said late last month. President Joe Biden has said that there is a seasonal increase in migration, and he also blamed the Trump administration in part for neglecting Central America and the root problems that drive migration and for what he said was a dismantling of systems to deal with migrants.īiden has said most people arriving at the border are being turned away. It has resulted in children being held in overcrowded border patrol stations far past the 72-hour legal limit. The Biden administration's policy is to expel migrants except minors who come alone, which is a change from the Trump administration policy of turning away asylum-seekers including children under a pandemic rule known as Title 42. Health and Human Services and Customs and Border Protection - federal data shows. A record number of unaccompanied children crossed the border in March.Īs of Monday, about 19,000 unaccompanied migrant children were in federal custody - U.S. The incident comes amid a rise at the border of unaccompanied minors, fleeing conditions in Central America and other places.

He woke up and realized he had been left behind by a group of migrants he was traveling with, and he is safe at a Border Patrol facility and will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement, it said. The video, taken Thursday in the Rio Grande Valley, shows the boy sobbing and saying that he didn't know where the group he was with went.Ĭustoms and Border Protection said that the 10-year-old boy from Nicaragua was found walking alone on a rural road near La Grulla, Texas.
#5 year old abandoned at border full
See the full CBP statement on the drowning here.A frightened child alone in Texas last week told a Border Patrol official that he'd been abandoned by a larger group and was without his parents, video of the encounter showed. “Exploitation by the smugglers is what’s leading to this issue, no if ands or buts about it,” Clem said.ĭue to legal hurdles, Title 42 is expected to remain in place until the end of 2022, and into the beginning of 2023. On Monday, Clem said he doesn't believe Title 42 is contributing to the rising number of migrant deaths in Yuma County. “With greater border enforcement, it doesn’t stop migrants from coming, it leads them to take greater risks,” “Everyone who is getting expelled is trying to cross again and again until they make it or until they perish and that is directly tied to policies like Title 42,” Garcia said.īrad Jones with Humane Borders, which operates out of Tucson, says the record number of migrants coming to the border is proof Title 42 doesn’t work as a deterrent to migration. Governor Ducey, and the state of Arizona have pushed for Title 42 to remain in place at the border.Īrizona’s lawsuit against the CDC prevented the Biden Administration from ending the policy on May 23rd.īut humanitarian groups say these actions are causing the increase in deaths because Title 42 closes ports of entry to asylum seekers, pushing the migrants to cross in dangerous areas in-between official entry points.ĭulce Garcia, the Executive Director of Border Angels, says her organization urges migrants in Tiajuana shelters not to take the risk of crossing through an ocean, river, or mountains to get into the U.S.īut she says they have fled violent situations, so many see getting to the states as their only option. “Agents have recovered 17 bodies in the desert, a 112% increase since last year,” Clem said.

Customs and Border Protection officials said agents spotted the child as she was dropped off just before 11 a.m. He says in the Yuma Sector, migrant deaths are on the rise. Border Patrol agents came to the aid of a 5-year-old girl who was wandering alone at the U.S-Mexico border in San Ysidro. On the same day as the drowning, I was with Yuma Sector Chief Patrol Officer Chris Clem in the Yuma desert. Rea ction to the news came in on Twitter…with Arizona Governor Doug Ducey calling it “heartbreaking”. The river can be flowing strongly and be deep before it reaches the dam. The drowning and body recovery happened somewhere north of the Morelos Dam.įrom the dam up north to where the river splits the border wall at Andrade, Calif. They declared the child to be deceased and took custody of the body.
